


Ghost of His Past

by Miasen



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ghosts, M/M, Rebirth, Romance, Sexual Content, but not really, ereribigbang2k17, sort of character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-16 01:16:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 31,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13625481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miasen/pseuds/Miasen
Summary: In a city as old as Levi's the buildings have seen endless streams of human lives pass in a flash, and the brick and mortar are filled with the stories of their lives. Levi makes his living guiding tourists on ghost walks, telling the sordid tales of the city's past, of blood-dripping murders and ghosts that haunt the churches and pubs. He's good at his job. After all, it's not particularly hard work scaring tourists when you have a ghost as your closest friend.Levi's life isn't bad, but all is due to change when a man with bright eyes and shaggy hair joins his tour one night, a man that looks exactly like Levi's ghostly friend, although this man is breathtakingly alive.





	1. Chapter 1

The city was dark past the artificial glare of street lamps, the harsh light they gave off not enough to wash away the deep shadows in narrow alleys that curled through the city, twists and turns that could confuse anyone. At times this part of the city seemed like a sentient being, houses and streets organic, having sprung from the earth like wild mushrooms, none of the orderly squares modern cities sliced through the landscape.

This city was old, and it showed it in the cracks of its mortar and the way every house seemed to tilt a little to the side, weary from their age.

When he first set his foot here it was as if Levi was swallowed up by the history that saturated the very air around him. Generations of people had lived in the very streets he stood upon. Lives that were lived and lost and forgotten. Good lives and bad lives, and they were all gone, but still, a small part of them all seemed to have left its trace in the streets and buildings, made the city an ode to those that were lost, and a home to those that were alive.

Levi hadn't left since; he came here to study and stayed because it became home. Not just the small flat on the top of a winding staircase that was hard to navigate sober, and almost impossible to navigate drunk, a maze of uneven steps seemingly shifting on a semi-daily basis. No, home was the cobbled streets, and the narrow alleys and the crumbling bricks painted black by pollution through the centuries that had passed.

He wasn’t sure if it was because of his love of the city, or his love of history in general, that prompted him to take on this job, maybe some combination of the two, but he had seen the ad that they were searching for tour guides, and he had needed money, and thought that showing people around would be a good way to get his hands on some, figuring that he could show off just exactly what made this city unique, make other people see the history that flowed through it, how every brick and cobblestone was alive, a piece of a whole.

He should have read up more before he took the job, because the ad had never specified what they would be talking about on these tours, and somehow he had ended up dragging endless groups of tourists through his beloved city, not to show off the whimsical beauty of it, but to tell tales of those who once lived here. Which wouldn’t be so bad, he considered the souls as much a part of the city as the stones and the wood, but somehow he had ended up being a tour guide on a _ghost walk_ , and all they wanted to hear about was the gruesome deaths and murders and the restless spirits they left behind.

He had baulked when his boss had presented him with the uniform he was supposed to wear. The cloak was bad enough, but the top hat was out of the question. No matter how enthusiastic Hanji had been about the uniform all the tour guides were supposed to wear he had refused the hat, not having any need of looking that much like a reject of a period drama.

He still found himself trudging through the streets most nights, clad in black trousers, a white shirt with a cravat tied in the neck, and a cloak around him, to add that flair that the tourists apparently needed. At least the cloak was warm against the crisp autumn winds that tugged at the tips of it as he stopped in front of a pub where he had stopped a hundred times before, turning around so his back was against the dark windows. Fifteen faces turned in his direction as he paused for a moment for more of that dramatic flair Hanji had insisted was so important.

The pause gave him time to sweep his gaze over the group, making a quick assessment. No kids in this group, which meant he didn't have to cut out any of the most bloodcurdling details, which was good because that was precisely why the majority of people were here.

There was a German family, both kids in their mid-teens, who seemed stuck on the edge between feeling like they should hate anything their parents dragged them along to, and being enthusiastic about the tour. A couple of girls in their late twenties, friends on holiday most likely, smiles on their faces as their gazes kept flickering around at the buildings surrounding them, one of them nudging the other as she pointed out something, whispering amongst themselves. Then there was a group of middle-aged men and women, probably in town for work and needing a break from meetings. Their clothes a little too stiff for the occasion, but they seemed interested enough, listening to his stories with interest. The last was the ones who had worried him when he picked up the group at the designated meeting point. There were four of them, just on the brink of their twenties. The girl hadn't cracked a smile once, looking like she had been dragged along by the rest of them. The short blond one didn't stand out much, following after the others, listening when he was meant to and walking when he was meant to.

The last two though. They had been bickering loud enough that Levi had heard them before he even saw the group at the meeting point, and when he rounded the corner he could swear they were on the point of breaking into a fist fight.

Their two friends had pulled them apart when they noticed Levi, and luckily they hadn’t started up a ruckus during the tour, but there was a tenseness about them that Levi felt like could ignite at a moment's notice.

Levi had no idea if they actually paid attention to him or not. They both wore hoodies pulled over their heads and had sunglasses on, which was bad enough in itself, because the sun had set a full hour ago, and the city was dark around them. He wasn't sure how they even navigated without tripping over the uneven cobblestone.

Levi had no trouble tossing people out of his group, he’d had to plenty of times, when people were too drunk and rowdy, or just ruined everything for the rest of them with their loud commentary meant solely to antagonize Levi. He had kind of expected these two idiots to do that last one, but so far they just trudged along, hands in the pockets of their sweaters, dirty converse scuffing along the ground, the shorter one’s laces undone and threatening to trip him at a moment’s notice.

“This is the Hag’s Wart pub. It’s said to be one of the oldest pubs still in service, and it’s certainly the oldest here in the city,” Levi started when the group was getting twitchy. “There’s proof that the pub existed found as early as 1604, in a letter sent from one Declan Finnegan to his father, where he says that there was a scuffle at the Hag’s Wart that gave him a bloodied nose, but the ale was so good he just stuffed a rag up his nose and kept drinking.”

There were the customary snickers from the group at this, and Levi took a moment before he continued. "Sure, there's not the same people running it today, but the ale is still good, and you are still in danger of a bloodied nose if you go during the weekend.

“It is not the ale I’m here to talk about today, however, no, this story isn’t from the pub, but from the floor above.” He stopped for dramatic effect as fifteen pairs of eyes swung over his head to seek out the windows above, as if expecting a ghoul to wave down at them. “In the eighteen hundreds the pub was thriving, the city growing as a steady influx of people from the countryside found their way from farms to tiny apartments, in search of work. Life was bleak for most, so the pub was a favoured place to drink away what little money they did get their hands on.

“Back then the owner of the pub lived on the top floor, as he does today, and on the floor below there were two smaller rooms that he rented out to those in need for a roof over their head. The owner was a kind enough fellow, willing to overlook a missing payment or two, but when those two missing payments turned to three and then four he decided he had to talk to the chap who rented the place. The owner, who was only referred to as Mr Michaels in the newspapers regarding this incident," Levi liked adding that last fact, added a bit more realism to the story. He took pride in never inventing any of the stories he told, they were all grounded in fact. Real people and real murders, but the groups didn't always believe that, and it wasn't like he could pull out the stacks of history books he had at home and show them, so he had to convince them in little ways like this. Truth was that there had been a Mr Michaels that used to own the Hag's Wart back in the 1800s, and he had rented out those rooms, mostly to people who worked in the nearby shipyard. And on one fateful July evening, particularly cold for the season according to Levi's sources, he had gone and knocked on the door of one of those rooms to gather his payment, or to kick out the renter, no one would know. His wife had been sleeping, and when she woke the next morning she had found his bed empty, sheets unstirred. 

She had known that it was his intentions to find the renter when he closed the pub, so she walked downstairs, through a narrow staircase that twisted its way down the floors, into the tiny hallway that led to the two rooms and a storage room. All doors had been closed, so she had approached the room carefully, lifted a hand to knock but found that the flimsy wooden door swung inwards without any force. She had peeked inside, the room darkened, a single dirty window the only source of light.

It hadn’t been so dark that she didn’t see her husband though, hanging by his neck from a hook on the wall, the tip of metal jutting from his throat, and his entrails dragging on the floor where his gut had been opened.

According to police reports the woman had fled with a scream to never return, moving back with her mother, refusing to even come back to the city for her late husband's burial. The perpetrator, who they assumed was the man who had rented the room, was never caught. The papers left behind pointed to a man that didn’t exist, a fake identity that was never figured out.

A murder case this bloody always lead to ghost stories afterwards. The pub outlived the owner, new people taking over, more ale being poured, and the deeper people got in their pints, the higher the likelihood they would swear to have seen Mr Michaels walking about, entrails dragging after him like the train of a dress, a wet rattle from his ruined throat.

Levi had to overcome the history student in him when he took this job, the part of him that wanted to present each fact with their basis; concise and to the point. Now he shrouded it in darkness and mystery, creating a tale meant to frighten and entertain, and judging by how the German teens were standing a little closer to their parents, and the blond friend of the two potential troublemakers were staring up at the first floor windows with wide eyes, Levi knew he was succeeding.

“Later owners tried renting out the room as well, but people never stayed more than a couple of days before they swore they heard sounds that would wake them at night, a wet rattle and the sickening sound of entrails dragging on the floor,” Levi ended, and even in the dark of the night he could see a greenish tinge to the face of a couple people in the group, eyes nervously flickering up as they tried to decipher which of the windows lead to the room.

“What about now, what’s up there?” someone called out. Levi’s gaze flickered in the direction of the taller of the two sunglass wearing idiots. He saw that he had shoved the sunglasses down on his nose and was staring up at the building over the top of it. He was lanky, all arms and legs, and tufts of bleached hair stuck out from underneath the hood.

“I suggest you ask the owner to show you later, he claims he doesn't worry much about old Mr Michaels, says he can't do much harm hanging from the wall like that, so he still lives up on the top floor. Our tour ends up not far from here, so I recommend coming back for some ale and maybe he'll take you up there." Levi always ushered his groups towards the Hag's Wart after the tour was over, both because people loved the idea of drinking in a haunted pub, and because he knew the owner, so the promise of showing his group the haunted room in exchange for the possible patronage of a few of them was worth it. Erwin never did mind taking a few terrified tourists up the small stair in the corner of the pub, opening the door with an ancient looking key and stepping aside to see them fret about going inside or not. The room was kept mostly as it had back then, sparsely decorated, bare wooden floors, a rusted hook meant for coats still on the wall, the sight of which had several people’s hand fly to their throats according to Erwin.

In truth, the hook was a newer addition, the old one removed at some point, probably as evidence or in an attempt to have renters not remember the tales of Mr Michaels and his bloody demise.

Levi's stories were never lies, but he also knew how to spin the truth into something else, and that was exactly what made him an excellent tour guide according to Hanji, and also probably the only reason she was lenient on his rejection to the top hat she made the other tour guides wear.

He could see the guy swing an arm around the one he had been on the verge of ending up in a brawl with earlier. “We’re so going there later on, I wanna see you piss yourself when we meet the ghost, Jaeger,” he said, jostling his friend. The shorter one, dark hair sticking from the edge of his hood and drooping over the edge of the sunglasses he was still wearing tried to shake his friend off, but the taller one just whispered something in his ear, and the dark-haired one elbowed him hard in the ribs, Levi had no need to see them break into a fight again, so he stepped forward, getting the groups attention.

“Let us move on," Levi bit out, wanting nothing more than to take each of those hoodie-wearing bastards and knock their heads together, because although he was twenty-nine, he had the patience of an old man, and would have probably waved his cane at them if he had one. 

He took them on a familiar route through quiet alleys and narrow streets, telling a few more stories, one bloodier than the other. A city this old had an impressive array of these tales to tell, a past as dark as the night was.

“And this is our last stop of the evening, and consequently probably the most haunted of the lot,” Levi said as they stopped outside a seemingly innocuous building, three stories of brick and mortar nestled between taller buildings, older than its neighbours by a full century, once a part of a line of similar ones that had been claimed back by nature and humans alike through the years. There was a small patch of grass running along one side, a surprising bit of greenery amongst all the stone. There were few lights here, a backstreet where few ventured at night, so the garden was shrouded in darkness that made it seem nothing like the peaceful sanctuary it was during the day.

“Not much is known about the history of this building, it had slipped through the cracks, a building of little importance. No great people have claimed it as home, and no horrible murders have occurred between these walls,” he took a break here, seeing the way a few shoulders slumped in what he recognised as disappointment. They were thinking he was building up to the scariest story yet, and then he told them that nothing had happened, he could see the tenseness that had been building in them seep out by the second.

“That we know of that is,” he continued, peaking their interest again.

“No inhabitants have suddenly gone missing, no bodies have been found, and yet, it is perhaps the most haunted of all the buildings we have seen tonight.”

There was shuffling from behind as a couple of people took a small step backwards, and he heard soft voices as the two girls whispered amongst themselves, the words in some language that made little sense to Levi.

“It is currently in use by a youth organization, but to my knowledge no one has dared stay the night yet, driven away as the shadows of nightfall overtake the area. Something lives within those walls, something no one can explain, an unknown force.”

“Have you ever been inside?" one of the middle-aged men asked, seeming genuinely interested. 

“I have, in fact. Not at night mind you, even I am not that crazy.” Cue a few nervous laughs from his group.

“I've been there during the day. It seems… normal at first.Just a building unlike any other, but it's as if… someone is watching you, a pair of eyes always on you as you walk through the rooms, even if there's no one but you inside. Then… there are cold patches. Suddenly the air feels as if it's midwinter, even if the sun is shining through the windows. It's disconcerting. 

“At night though, that's when it gets bad. The neighbours say that lights will flicker on and off even if there's no one inside the building, and then there's something moving inside, passing by the windows, the silhouette of a person, fingers scratching at windows as if it's desperately trying to get out. I talked to someone who used to live in this building," Levi gesticulated to the building right across the haunted one, "And she moved away because she couldn't deal with it anymore. The sound of nails clawing at the windows at night, the soft screams, muffled but _there_ , as if someone is dying, again and again, and again." Levi lowered his voice as he spoke, pitching it slowly into a more ominous tone, seeing the group grow unsettled. 

“There are no written sources that tell of anyone being murdered in that house, but someone is still there, unable to move on after their death, trying to be free of its eternal torment--" 

A high-pitched scream interrupted him, one of the German teenagers staring at the house, eyes wide and mouth opened even as the scream died out. His finger was pointed accusatory towards the building, one of the upper windows, and Levi could see it shaking.

The mother quickly pulled the kid towards her, talking quickly in German, but there was no time to explain what the kid had seen, because the next moment a light turned on in one of the upstairs windows, flickering three times before it gave out, and now the kid wasn't the only one terrified. No one else screamed, but the whole group seemed to lurch backwards, everyone who knew each other suddenly standing shoulder against shoulder, a few partly hiding behind their friends.

“Ah, we should probably mov--" Levi started, taking a step up the street, only to be interrupted with the sound of nails dragging against glass, and the next moment fifteen pairs of eyes were locked on him, seemingly pleading to get away, and Levi knew it would take very little to have the whole group fleeing from the scene, so he quickly motioned for them to follow and walked at a brisk pace up the street, stopping only when they could no longer see the house. 

He heard excited chattering break out amongst the group the moment they gathered under a streetlight by the main road, the hum of traffic passing seemingly breaking the tension. He caught a few murmured discussions of what happened from those who spoke English, some still looking scared, some just looking high on adrenaline, and Levi knew that he had succeeded. The group would remember him, and they tell their friends, and that meant more customers at a later date.

“Ah, yes, as you can see, this city never seems to rest, even when the living leave at night,” Levi said, drawing his cloak tighter around himself.

“I call bullshit!" The tall, lanky one of the sunglass-wearing duo piped up, and his friend grabbed him around the neck and slammed a palm against his mouth, hissing something that Levi didn't catch, but it had the desired effect to shut him up. 

“There’s not always any good explanations to what we see. Electrical surges because of old wires causing flickering lights, the creaking of old houses settling in their bones, yes maybe. Or maybe something else entirely, maybe something we cannot explain. I will not tell you what is the right or wrong conclusion, but I do hope you have been entertained tonight at least. The Hag’s Wart is just two blocks down that way, it’s open and the beer is good so please feel free to go there now, and if you ask nicely the owner might show you the upstairs, if you think you can handle more tonight.”

There were some nervous snickers amongst the group.

“And with that I conclude the tour, and wish you welcome another time, if you dare.”

Levi lingered behind, knowing that there was always someone who needed directions towards the closest bus stop, or wanted to ask more questions, and if he was lucky, tipping him.

He pocketed a tenner from the German family before pointing them towards the bus stop, even as the kids grumbled. They spoke German, but it wasn't hard to decipher them begging to go to the pub to see the haunted room. The middle-aged group members and the two girls all headed in the direction of the pub, a few more notes finding their way to Levi's hand.

Which left the four early-twentysomethings. The girl still looked unimpressed, the only one who hadn't flinched at all when the last house showed its dark side. The blond one's eyes were larger than they had been before, but rather than being terrified he actually piped out a question regarding the abbey they had visited earlier, and Levi was surprised to see that the kid actually seemed to know a fair bit of the history.

The last two were scuffling to the side, seemingly arguing about whether to go to the pub or not, but after the blond had his questions answered they all headed in the direction of the Hag’s Wart, and Levi wouldn’t be surprised if Erwin would have to make the trip upstairs to show off the murder room.

Levi turned around to head back the way they had come from when he heard the sound of footsteps nearing and looked behind himself to see the shorter of the idiot duo run towards him, hood flopping off his head to show off a messy mane of dark hair. He stopped in front of Levi, grinning at him as he stuck a hand in one pocket, pulling out a crumpled up pair of five-pound notes. He shoved it in Levi's direction, who accepted with a narrowing of his eyes. He was surprised the kid had thought to tip him, he hadn't been sure if he had been interested in the tour at all.

“It really was great, you’re a great guide,” the kid said, and there was something familiar about him that Levi couldn't quite place, and he was wondering if maybe the kid had been on the tour before, but then he lifted a hand to his face and shoved the sunglasses up to rest in his hair, and Levi froze in shock.

Levi knew that face, knew it well. The big eyes he had seen a hundred times, the straight nose, the mess of hair a little too long, carelessly brushed out of his eyes.

He had, however, never known that the eyes were as bright as this, a vibrant teal that reminded him of the ocean. Skin a golden tan under the light, making him seem alive, so utterly devastatingly alive, and Levi’s mind ground to a startling halt.

“We’re headed over to the Hag’s Wart now, thanks again,” the kid said when Levi couldn't get his mind to work long enough to stutter out anything in response to what the kid had said. “I’m Eren by the way, if you come to the pub I’ll buy you a round, for sure!”

The kid yanked his hood back on and turned around before Levi could say anything, vanishing down the street in a hurry to catch up to his friends. Levi stared after his retreating back until the kid turned a corner and was gone, as if he hadn’t just sent Levi’s mind into a tailspin.

It took him a full minute until he realised he was still standing there, staring at the place Eren had vanished, and he shook his head and turned around, trudging back to the last stop of the tour, where he usually ended his nights.

The side street was just as quiet as it had been earlier, before things went haywire at the house. No more nails scratching at the window panes or flickering lights. Usually at this point in the night Levi was happy to be done with work, ready to unwind for a moment before he headed back to his flat to sleep, but the kid, ( _Eren_ his mind supplied, ever helpful) had disrupted his usual routine. He had no idea how it was even possible. When he first saw him he had thought he saw a ghost, literally, but Eren hadn’t seemed to recognise him at all, and it made no sense.

Not that this part of his life had ever really made sense. By day he was a student, by evening he was a tour guide, and by night, when the shadows were deep and the air cold and the streets quiet, he was…

He wasn’t really sure what he was. The first time he had thought he had gone temporarily insane, but that was a long time ago. Now he was just Levi, and he just happened to have a friend that fit into the more peculiar spectrum of people.

Levi stepped into the shadowed patch of a garden next to the haunted house, underneath the tree whose large branches spanned the entirety of the small grassy area, sitting down with his back against the trunk as he had done a dozen other nights. He leaned his head back against the rough bark and tried to make sense of everything.

He didn't get very far before he felt the familiar cold draft that always accompanied the one he came here to meet. He didn't bother opening his eyes or acknowledging him in any way other than a one-word greeting.

There was no sound when he sat down, but still, Levi knew that if he opened his eyes he would see him sitting in front of him, legs crossed, hair a tousled mess of dark grey, eyes big but grey, as everything about him. Shimmering grey from head to toe, and Levi had been used to it, but now he wasn't sure what he'd think, now that he'd seen the same but so different.

Maybe it was all in his imagination, maybe this Eren kid wasn’t as similar as he thought, maybe he was just twisting things in his mind. Only one way to find out.

He opened his eyes, peered at the kid sitting in front of him, and realised one thing. He wasn’t making this up. Eren almost completely identical to the kid in front of him, only he had been in high-def technicolour, and this kid was all washed out greys that had never bothered him before, but now just made him realise clearer than ever just what this kid was.

“Levi, did something happen at work?  You seem even grouchier than usual,” the kid said, and Levi let out a quick breath, trying to shake off the disconcerting feeling that had settled in his bones.

“Nah, Casper, nothing big.”

His name wasn’t Casper, of course it wasn’t, that would be too much of a cliche for real life after all. But when you had a nameless ghost on your hands Casper just seemed like a very fitting name. What could he say, Levi had never been one for subtleties.

Levi stretched out one leg, feeling the hair on his calf stand up as he got too close to the ghostly shape.

There was a point in his life when Levi hadn’t actually believed in ghosts. When he was firm in the belief that people died and then they were gone, souls washed away into the ether, nothing but a fading memories in people’s minds, but then he had been touring the city as he prepared to take on the role as tour guide, and there was Casper in the flesh. Well, as much as you could call an incorporeal form flesh. He had been lingering in this very garden, sitting on a branch of the tree, dangling with his feet, looking anything but the terrifying ghoul his kind was most often cast as.

Levi had seen him, and for a while he hadn’t done anything other than stare, wondering if he was somehow drunk even if he hadn’t had as much as a pint all week, and then he was sure he was just imagining it all, but then the ghost had noticed him,and it floated down from its branch and approached him, and Levi hadn’t been sure if he should run away or confront it, and in the end he had just glared a little, because that was his default when he didn’t know what to do (and maybe when he did know what to do as well, his face just seemed to settle naturally into a glare). The ghost came closer and Levi realised he wasn’t feeling very threatened at all, a slightly scruffy looking kid wasn’t all that terrifying, so he found himself addressing it before he thought it through at all. “If you as much as think about killing me you’ll regret it, brat.”

Later he wouldn’t be able to tell where that _brat_ had come from, but it seemed to startle the ghost a little, and then a smile cracked on his face and he was laughing, the sound quiet, little but a whisper of a wind, but he was laughing, and a ghost that was laughing just wasn’t scary at all, so Levi had found himself relaxing and just settling into the fact that okay, ghosts were apparently real, and had found that he didn’t have such a hard time dealing with that.

That was a few years ago and Casper, as he had named him that first night because he got tired of referring to him as kid or brat, even though he defaulted to the latter more often than not, was now a regular staple in his life, and probably the reason why Levi was doing so well at the whole ghost walk business. Pair up the fact that Levi did have a lot of knowledge about the city and its sordid history, with the fact that he was friendly with a bored ghost that loved nothing more than to terrify the hell out of unsuspecting tourists and they were a pretty good team, earning Levi a decent amount of tips most nights. He didn't consider it a sham because the house was technically haunted, in fact, it was the only house he could personally testify was so, and the fact that it was because he conspired with a ghost was just… a minor detail.

It wasn't that Levi could talk to ghosts in general, so far Casper was the only one he had ever seen, and he was happy for it because he didn't think he'd much like having apparitions appear around him at inopportune times. At least Eren couldn't leave his small garden and the nearest buildings, so if Levi should feel like it he could leave. He didn't have to live in fear of suddenly having some decapitated fellow stick his way through the wall when he was on the toilet, which was, quite frankly, a relief.

“I did good, yeah?" Casper said, always eager to prove to Levi just how terrifying he could be, and Levi cracked a small smile and shrugged. 

“Only one person screamed, far to go to beat your record.”

“Ah, that was a nice night, ten girls all shrieking hysterically.”

“For you maybe. They were too terrified to stay, so I didn’t get any tips, because they all r _an away_ ,” Levi grumbled.

Silence grew over their little garden, Levi closing his eyes again and trying not to see teal eyes and tan skin and brown hair.

“Levi,” the brat said, and Levi knew by the tone of his voice that he wasn’t about to back down. If there was one thing this friendly ghost was it was stubborn, and Levi should know, but somehow he always forgot.

“So, there was this kid,” he started, trailing off as he tried to find his words.

“By kid do we mean actual child, or is this your definition of kid, which means anyone that looks remotely younger than you?" 

Levi didn’t deign that with an answer, and his silence was answer enough judging by the snort Casper gave off.

“So there was this fucking _guy_ ,” Levi continued, letting the curse words he’d had to learn to bite back when he was working seep back into his vocabulary, “he approached me at the end of the tour--”

“Did he want a piece of your ass?” Casper shot in, and Levi groaned. If he had ever thought ghosts would be scary he had been sorely mistaken, because this ghost was just a pain in his ass that spent too much time floating through nearby apartments watching TV, and it was showing in his vocabulary.

“No, he did not want--No.” Levi tucked his cloak a little closer to him as Casper seemingly shifted closer, bringing with him cold air.

“There was this guy, and he approached me, and it was the first time I really saw him, and he looked…" Levi broke himself off with a groan. There was probably a perfectly good explanation to this, but he couldn't really come up with one. "Shit, he looked like you." 

Casper didn’t say anything at that, and when Levi cracked open his eyes he saw Casper stare down at his hands, turning them over in his lap. “I don’t get why that’s a big deal? Probably lots of people look like me. Not like I would know but...”

Apparently Casper’s reflection didn’t show up in mirrors, so he’d bugged Levi into trying to explain how he looked a few times, but Levi just grunted out a few words, having no idea how you did something like that without it being all wrong. Casper just looked… like Casper. He had shaggy hair and big eyes, and he was forever caught in that stage of late teens where he was starting to fill out but hadn’t completely grown in yet, a little round in the face still, but with broad shoulders.

Eren had had the exact same eyes and thick eyebrows, and although he had looked a little sharper in the face it was the same features, only matured a few more years. It was as if they were the same person caught at different points in their lives, but it made no sense because ghosts were supposed to be the lingering spirit of people who had died, and Eren hadn't seemed very dead at all. He was all vibrant and alive.

“No, he looked just like you. Down to the shitty hair,” Levi said.

Casper frowned but didn’t say anything back, too used to Levi to care about the insult that they both knew carried little weight.

Casper didn't say anything else, just stared in the direction of a brick wall, seemingly lost in thought. "I wonder if he's a descendant or something, like… my grand-grand something son?"

Levi looked at him. Casper couldn’t have been even eighteen when he died, but he guessed it wasn’t that far-fetched for a teenager to be a father in other times, so he guessed it was plausible that Casper had some kid who grew up to father new kids, creating a line all the way down to Eren. Was it very likely though? The further down the more diluted his genes would be, how could Eren be the spitting image of him?

Levi actually had no idea exactly when Casper had died. The ghost had no recollection of his living life past a few odd glimpses that didn’t fit together to a full picture, and his clothes were too bland to pinpoint it exactly, a pair of dark pants and a paler grey shirt, laces at the neck. He was barefooted, and the only other thing he had was a chain around his neck with a key, but no memories to go with where it was supposed to go. Not that it would work anyways, the key was as ghostly as he was, nothing but air if Levi reached for it.

He could have lived a hundred years ago, or a thousand, and Levi would probably never know.

“Yeah, maybe,” he said, although he couldn’t get himself to believe it, but he had no other answers.

“You need to find him,” Casper said, and Levi’s eyes narrowed, not liking the way this conversation was going. He had every intention of forgetting all about this Eren and move on with his life. What good would come from finding Eren? So, maybe he was Casper’s descendant, so what, it wouldn’t change anything.

“Don’t give me that look, I’m not intimidated by you anymore,” Casper said. “Did he say where he lives?”

“No,” Levi said, looking away. He hadn’t said where he lived, if it was even here in the city or if he was just here on holiday, but Levi might know where there was a very great likelihood of him being right this moment, and he wasn’t about to tell Casper that.

There were no sound as Casper moved, one moment he was next to him, the next he was right in front of him, leaning in, eyes intense in the way he got sometimes. “You need to talk to him. I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“Tsk, and how are you going to make me?”

“I won’t help you out with the groups again, and you’ll be a run of the mill tour guide, no ghosts to boast of.”

Levi sighed. Truth be told he probably would do just fine without a ghost at his beck and call to terrify tourists, but he couldn’t quite shake the nagging thought in the back of his mind that he really wanted to know more about Eren, that he was curious.

“Goddamned it,” Levi said, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers, knowing he had lost already.

He pushed to his feet, and pointedly ignored Casper as he walked out of the garden and headed in the direction of the Hag’s Wart.

  


The pub was half full when Levi stepped in the door a short while later, and he headed straight towards the bar, not even allowing himself to look around the room, trying to convince himself that he had come because he had a desperate longing for a pint, not to search out some random kid.

Erwin was manning the bar, as he was most nights, and he saw Levi he offered a short nod, lips twisting into a wry grin as his gaze dropped down Levi’s outfit.

Levi groaned and pulled off the shitty cloak, tossing it over the back of the barstool. The black trousers and white shirt wasn’t too bad, and he kind of liked the cravat, even though he wasn’t about to admit that to Hanji anytime soon, so he kept it on. At least he could sort of pass as a normal person, not some lame Dracula knock-off.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Erwin said, sliding a pint of stout towards him, as dark as Levi’s soul.

Levi just huffed and grabbed the glass, drinking deep, trying very hard not to turn around to survey the people sitting around the pub.

“I take it it was a good night?" Erwin said, not off-put by Levi's silence, cocking a hip against the bar desk as he surveyed his domain. 

“I guess,” Levi said with a shrug.

“I had someone who begged to see the murder room, telling me that the short tour guide had said it would be allowed.”

Levi’s head twitched as he stopped himself from turning around to find whoever had called him short. He had an incline it was tall, bottle blond and lanky.

“Did they shit their pants?” Levi said, drinking more of his stout, pointedly trying not to listen in on any of the conversations he could hear from behind him.

“The ghost was taking it easy tonight, so nothing big. They are over there, drinking now,” Erwin added, nodding towards the side of the room, and Levi found himself turning moments later before he could catch himself.

The little group was sitting around one of the round tables, a couple of empty glasses already on the table. His eyes immediately fell on the one that had caused him to go to the bar tonight at all. He was sitting so Levi could see his profile, and in the dim light of the pub his skin appeared even darker than it had been outside, a rich tan that combined with dark hair made him look vaguely foreign.

It was eerie. There was no doubt, this Eren was the spitting image of Casper, and he couldn’t explain it. He felt that maybe it is supposed to mean something, that there was some great importance to it, but he was unsure what he was supposed to do now. Maybe it’s common, that ghosts look like living beings all the time. He has never seen any ghosts besides Casper, so he wouldn't know.

Eren laughed at something one of the others said, and he was a little too loud when he leaned over the table afterwards, lightly punching the arm of the tall, gangly one. It made Levi realise that there was something that was different between the ghost and the man. Where he was accustomed to the way Casper spoke, in a definite British voice, a slightly low-brow accent, a little rough around the edges, Eren spoke in a thicker accent. Not clearly British at all, something vaguely European that Levi couldn't quite place. Eren's voice might be a little darker as well, but he couldn't be sure.

He was so taken back by how similar the two were that it took him a moment to realise that he was no longer watching Eren’s profile, but rather his eyes, Eren having turned and clearly noticed him watching.

Levi was not one to embarrass, so he kept his gaze on Eren, watching to see how Eren would react. Against his better judgment he found himself intrigued by the younger man. He never should have come here, because it wouldn’t lead to anything good.

“Bloody hell,” he mumbled to himself when Eren waved him over with an eager smile on his face, as if he really wanted Levi to come over. Levi should leave. Should turn his back on Eren, down the rest of his pint and head back to his flat.

Soon after he found himself sitting in-between Eren and the short blond one. Armin he’d been introduced as. Mikasa was the stern-looking girl, and Jean the tall one. It was the kind of group that shouldn't get along, but somehow appeared to do.

Levi leaned back in his chair, one ankle hooked over the opposite knee as he observed and listened, hoping to find out more about just who this Eren was.

What he has learned so far was that Jean was a shithead, Mikasa didn’t say much, Armin was surprisingly smart and Eren was way too loud when he was drunk. They keep talking amongst themselves about incidents Levi have no idea what was, people he didn’t know, places he hadn’t been, but all in all it wasn’t the worst company.

He was still no closer to knowing what the connection was between Eren and Casper, but as the evening progressed he forgot why he was there, and just let himself relax, ordering another pint or two, occasionally joining in the conversation. It naturally swung onto the subject of the ghost walk, Armin interested in the history of the city, and Jean wanting to know how the hell Levi did that trick with the haunted house.

Levi leaned closer to Jean, as if he was going to tell him everything he had ever wanted to hear, and he could see how Jean leaned closer, eager to know. At Levi’s side Eren had scooted forward too, and Levi cast a glance at him before looking back at Jean.

“It’s not a trick,” he said, pitching his voice low like he did during his walks. “Stay the night, you might find out for yourself.”

Jean scoffed at that, crossing his arms, trying to look wholly unaffected. He didn’t succeed. Levi could see it in Jean’s shifting eyes. He was nervous, but also an idiot. If Levi had dared him to go to the house and stay the night there Jean would have felt like he had to, but he also really didn’t want to.

Levi smirked and leaned back in his chair again. He could hear Eren snickering at his side, and he found himself looking at him again.

Objectively Eren was clearly a good-looking man. Sharp jaw, golden complexion, lips just the right side of full, but the most stunning about his appearance was his eyes. Following his skin tone and hair colour he should’ve had brown eyes, but instead they were a bright teal that drew all attention. They were rather stunning, and Levi found himself wondering if this was how Casper had looked like when he was still alive, if his eyes had been just as vibrant and clear. Had he been allowed to live a little longer would his jaw too have grown this defined, was this what he would have grown into?

Eren seemed to catch him looking again, turning towards him, thick brows drawing down a little in contemplation, gaze dropping from Levi’s eyes down his face. Levi parted his lips a little, moistened his bottom lip with his tongue, and noticed how Eren quickly drew his gaze away again.

Levi didn’t get to contemplate the meaning of that reaction as Erwin chose that very moment to announced closing. Levi looked up at the clock on the wall in surprise, he’d completely lost track of time, unlike him. He never stayed until closing, usually leaving after the first pint, but then again, he didn’t usually have company besides Erwin.

Today he’d spent a couple of hours with the group, but he was still no closer to the answer to the riddle that plagued him. What was the connection between Eren and Casper?

He followed them outside as they left the pub, walking to the nearest crossing. Levi lived within walking distance, and the rest of them were headed to the nearest bus stop, so their ways parted. Levi saw how Eren hesitated before calling out goodbye, as if he wanted to say or ask something, but then they vanished down the street and Levi was left alone in the night.

He was pretty certain he was never going to see Eren again, because the city was big, and he didn't go out much. He would most likely never get the answers to his questions, but life would move on, and he'd forget about Eren and nothing would change. Casper would still be there, haunting a little building to keep himself entertained in his afterlife, and Levi would keep giving tours until he found something better to do with his life.

He thought about going home, to crawl into bed and sleep until the sun again broke over the horizon, but it was the midnight hour and where better to spend that than with a ghost, so he started walking back towards the house and the little garden where Casper would probably still be lingering.

The garden was empty when he got there, cold and dark, and Levi was about to turn around and go back home to his flat when Casper came floating down from one of the nearby buildings. He’d probably been watching telly again.

“Levi!" he yelled out as he drifted down next to Levi. Levi wasn't sure if anyone else could hear Casper's voice, or if it was only him. Maybe all the neighbours thought he was a loon that spent his nights talking to himself. He didn't really care anyway, they could think whatever they wanted to. 

Levi pulled his cloak closer around his shoulders. The wind was picking up, cold and biting. He rather wished Casper had chosen somewhere else to haunt, inside his flat would have been nice right now, then he could curl up on his sofa with a cup of tea while they chatted, but instead they were outside.

“So, did you talk to him? Tell me everything!" Casper sounded excited, lifting his legs so he could cross them mid-air, floating a couple of feet above ground, like some Indian yogi who'd reached enlightenment. 

So Levi did. He told him how Eren looked, what info he had picked up about him (he drank Guinness when he could, he had grown up in Germany and apparently had quite the temper according to Jean). He didn’t know how old he was, but he guessed early somewhere just over twenty, which made him several years his junior, and he had no idea what he did with his days, because Levi hadn’t asked anything, had observed and listened, and it hadn’t ever come up. He did live in the city though, wasn’t a tourist, as much he’d been able to pick up.

Casper was severely unimpressed by Levi’s lack of detective skills, unfolding his legs and dropping down so he could pace around as he ranted about how Levi couldn’t have found out more, and how much of a bloody git he was for not even getting Levi’s number.

“Oi brat, put a sock in it!” Levi finally broke him off with. “I have no idea why he looked like you, but I’m not bloody likely to see him again, so it doesn't matter now does it?”

Casper looked annoyed, thick brows drawn into a frown. “You need to find him, don’t you? It’s important, I want to meet him, you need to bring him here.”

Levi scoffed. “I’d never be able to track him down anyways, so just let it go already. I’m leaving.”

He turned and started walking, ignoring Casper’s shouts. He could be prissy all the wanted, he’d still be there when Levi got back in a day or two.

So, maybe he should have asked for Eren's number, but he hadn't, so there wasn't any reason to think about it anymore. Life was filled with mysteries, and Levi wasn't one to bother with trying to figure them out. Things happened, and there wasn't necessarily any reasoning behind it. So, Eren looked like Casper, it meant nothing. What mattered was that he had to go home and get some sleep, he had a class to attend tomorrow, and it would be well past one am before he was home and in bed.

“Fucking annoying ghost,” he muttered to no one but himself.


	2. Chapter 2

_Flashes of a life that isn’t his, of people he doesn’t know, places he hasn’t seen. Pain, and sorrow, but always a happiness so profound it overcomes all the darkness, makes it worth it, but then it's torn away, and he doesn’t know what or why, or how, but his mind is a vortex of pain, and he sees red, he is fury incarnate. More pain, fabric soaked in red…_

Eren startled awake with a scream and sat up in bed, hand lifting to his chest as if to make sure he was alive. His heart was beating a furious tattoo in his chest, and he collapsed back against his mattress, trying to calm its beat. He was tangled up in his sheets, soaked through with sweat.

It wasn’t the first time he’d woken up like this, from a nightmare that felt too real, like a memory he had forgotten still haunting his subconscious.

He groaned and kicked at the sheets until he freed himself, and then rolled out of bed, shuffling towards the bathroom. With cupped hands he splashed cold water over his face and neck, trying to clear his mind, but the nightmare was still there, lurking on the edges of it, not wanting to let go, clearer than any other dreams he’d ever had. He could feel the pain as a visceral thing, a claw in his chest, insistent and impossible to ignore.

He turned towards the window, cracking it open and leaning out, breathing in the night air. It was dark outside, the moon still up, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep again. The moment he closed his eyes he would see it again. Flashes that made no sense, faces passing by too fast for him to make them out.

Clearest among them grey eyes, and dark hair, but that was all he could remember, he couldn't conjure up a face to go with it, it always floated away like water between his fingers, replaced with blood and hurt and pieces of happiness.

He had no idea what it all meant, had had this dreams ever since he was a kid, but rarely. This was his third night in a row waking from it, and it was starting to seriously affecting his sleep.

He dragged a hand through his hair and headed back to his room. He might not be able to get any more sleep tonight, but he could always watch some Netflix to keep himself entertained until the rest of his flatmates got up in a few hours.

He put on an episode of a show he’d watched before, and didn’t really pay attention, mind flitting back to the dream and what it meant. He wasn’t sure why it had suddenly come to haunt him three nights in a row. Nothing had really happened lately that should mean he’d have more dreams than usual. It had been classes and work as usual, except for…

Except for the ghost walk they’d taken three nights ago.

Eren forgot all about what he had been in the middle of watching. The ghost walk had been Jean’s idea, some bet they’d made while drunk the previous weekend, Eren couldn’t quite remember. He hadn’t really had any expectations besides maybe some boring stories, but the guide had been really good, and he’d found himself paying attention. Not just to the stories, but the man telling them.

He was short, but good looking, in that _I’ll break your arm if you look at me funny_ way. It wasn’t just that though, there was something else, this tickling feeling of recognition, as if Eren had met him before.

He guessed it wasn’t impossible. The city was big, but not so big he couldn’t have seen the guide ( _Levi_ , his mind added) before. Walked past him on the street or something, his face just stunning enough to embed itself deep in Eren’s mind.

Then he’d actually come to the pub later, stayed at their table, but he hadn’t said much, and Eren had wanted to talk to him more, but kind of chickened out.

He wasn’t sure why going on a ghost walk was going to set off a string of nightmares, but he had a feeling it was the catalyst. Not that he had any idea why knowing that would make any difference. Not like he was going to ever meet Levi again.

Not unless...

### xXx

Levi quickly made his way through the winding streets towards the meeting point. It was ten minutes until his tour was to start, but he preferred being there early to have time to start gathering up those joining him and make sure they had all paid before they started.

He rounded the last corner and emerged in the small square that started their walk, the statue in the middle a good marker to have people gather near.

There were several people hanging around it already, but he didn’t know which were there for his tour, and which were just tourists walking about, so he pulled up the little sign Hanji made them all carry, the company’s logo on the front, and soon enough people noticed, some walking towards him, like moths to a flame, only he didn’t intend to kill them, just scare them, and hopefully also teach them a little about the city in the process.

It was the usual mix. A family with older kids, a couple locked together at the palm, and a trio that appeared to be friends on vacation. He checked his information, and saw that they were still lacking a couple of people, so he started ticking off those who had arrived, making sure those who hadn’t paid in advance did so now, showing a few where the nearest public toilet was and trying not to chat with anyone. He didn’t do small talk. It was different during the tour, because he had something to talk about then, he knew the story of the buildings and their inhabitants well, had no problem answering any questions people might have.

Soon enough the last person booked for the tour arrived, and Levi ushered the group into a semi-circle while looking around himself to see if more people were approaching. People sometimes showed up without having booked, hoping for a spot. As it was the group wasn’t full, so he could squeeze in a couple more, but no one was looking his way, so he turned back to the group, about to start the tour when he heard the unmistakable sound of sneakers against cobblestones behind him. He turned and saw someone running towards him, and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw just who it was. Out of breath, his hair a mess, but there’s no mistaking those teal eyes.

“Levi, hi! Do you have room for one more?” he asked as he drew up in front of him, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He was grinning up at Levi through his hair, and Levi just found himself nodding.

He hadn’t seen Eren in days, not since their ways separated after their visit to The Hag’s Wart, and he hadn’t thought he would ever see him again, had pushed him away from his mind, shut off Casper whenever he would bemoan Levi’s idiocy at not talking to Eren more.

But now he was here, digging through his wallet for money to pay for a walk. Levi grabbed the fifteen quids Eren was holding out, and promptly started the tour. He had a job to do, he couldn’t let himself lose focus because of Eren.

“The church that stands here today dates back to 1568, but there appears to have been a church here before as well. We can see hints of the old structure in the crypt. There’s no telling just how many stories these stones have to tell, but the one we will explore today is the story of one monk that spent his life here back in the 18th century, and who remains here to this day, haunting the place he called home.” Levi motioned towards the bell tower high above them, and everyone tilted their heads back, Eren included. Levi kept finding his gaze drawn towards him, but he forced his focus back on the tour, telling his tales of woe and despair.

“We don't know much about his life, but we do know about his death. In March 1775 he threw himself from the same window you see, and met his untimely demise on top of a merchant's cart. It was thought he had taken his own life for reasons unknown, a loss of faith perhaps, or a sin so foul he didn't feel he could live on. We'll never know just why he chose this fate for himself, but what we do know is that no one ever goes into the bell tower alone.”

He talked about various sightings done through the years, and added a few more tales from the church’s history. Old buildings were almost always shrouded in mystery. Whether it was folktales, or if some things left traces in the very stones of a building, mystic energies or something else entirely, he did not know. Apart from Casper he had never seen anything he couldn’t explain away as a natural phenomenon, but he was intrigued by the stories of these buildings, about the histories interwoven into the brick and mortar, how some tales lived on, years and years after those that had lived it passed on.

He had told much of the same tales last week, so Eren already knew all of this, but he seemed like it didn’t matter, paying attention to everything Levi said, teal eyes looking at him more than the buildings, gaze unreadable every time their eyes met.

Levi had no idea why Eren had come back. He hardly doubted it was because his tour was so good he wanted to do it a second time within a week. But why else would he be here?

Shit, Levi needed to keep focus.

“The moral of the story is that if you go splat against a merchant’s cart the merchant will be pissed off at you, and you will likely spend eternity haunting a shitty church, so, kids, don’t do it.”

He knew he’d gone a little too far when he saw the displeased looks on the faces of the mother of the family. Fragile people. Murder and other sordid tales were fine, but be a little crass and they were completely shocked.

He looked back at Eren who lifted a hand and sent it flying down the air to slam into the palm of his other hand, mimicking the monk’s final flight, and Levi couldn’t help the snort of laughter that bubbled in his throat, but quickly composed himself again, motioning for the group to follow him.

“We’re about to come to The Hag’s Wart, and I’m sure the stories the pub has to tell will be to your pleasing,” he said as they walked away from the church. He looked to his side, caught Eren’s gaze for a moment, and Eren grinned widely at him. Levi felt his chest tingle a little. There was something about Eren, something important, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

The tour continued, Levi telling his tales, gaze drifting towards Eren now and again, and only when they drew close to Casper’s haunt did he realise that Eren didn’t have his sunglasses on this time, that maybe Casper would look out and notice him. Then he realised that Casper didn’t know what he looked like, mirrors didn’t work on ghosts apparently and he doesn’t remember his life before turning into a spirit, so it's not like he’d recognise Eren anyway. Levi wondered if he should somehow try and tell Casper that Eren is there, but it was hard to communicate with ghosts without people thinking you were a loon, so he just kept the tour going, told the story of the unassuming building, waiting for Casper to make his move. He kept his gaze on Eren, saw how Eren scanned the window Casper appeared in the last time. Then the lights flickered, and Casper did his scratching trick (apparently it's tough work to materialize long enough to do, but Casper thinks it's hilarious, so he finds that it's worth it). As if on cue the group recoiled in shock, a few people screamed. Levi saw how Eren startled as well, as if he didn’t really believe it was going to happen again, that maybe he had convinced himself they’d all imagined it happening the last time.

Levi ushered the group along to the end of the tour, pointed them in the direction of the Hag’s Wart and the bus stop, and collected a bit of tips. He kept glancing at Eren out of the corner of his eye, saw how Eren lingered, as if he wanted to talk.

The final people of the group vanished down the street, and then it was just Levi and Eren left. Levi turned toward him, and Eren’s back straightened a little, as if he was gearing up to say something, but then he didn’t follow through. Levi wanted to stay quiet, to see what Eren would do, but he was curious, and he was never curious about people, so he found himself breaking the silence.

“Came back so soon,” he said, making it a statement rather than question, because of course Eren came back, he was standing right in front of him, hands in his pockets, rolling on the balls of his feet.

“Yeah,” Eren said, the corner of his lip twitching into a half-grin, a hand dragging through his hair as if he was embarrassed.

“I know the tours are good, but people don’t usually come back, at least not quite this soon.”

“Yeah, I… don’t know why, I just…” Eren said, stumbling over his words, gaze flicking away as if he couldn’t quite keep eye contact. Levi didn't blame him, most people couldn’t, they looked away from the glare that Levi couldn’t seem to keep his face from falling into.

“So, erm, what are you up to now?” Eren asked instead.

“Going home I figure,” Levi said, and he swore he could see how Eren deflated at that.

He remembered Casper’s words, and how utterly annoyed he had been with Levi for letting Eren go without finding out just why they were so similar. He knew he had just been given a second chance, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to take it or not. He liked his life as it was, simple, following old routines. He had this feeling that getting to know Eren would complicate that, that there was a reason Casper and Eren looked the same, that Levi would have to do something, figure it all out. This moment felt important, like he was teetering on an edge. Take a step back and everything stayed the same, or take a step forward into the unknown.

“Brat, let’s go,” he said. There never was a choice was there? Casper would bug the hell out of him if he didn’t do this. “I’m going to get a pint, want to join me?”

Eren’s face lit up in a smile, and he scrambled to follow after him as Levi headed down the street in the direction of the Hag’s Wart.

“Get us a table,” Levi said as they walked in the door of the pub, and Eren nodded once and took off, leaving Levi to head towards the bar and the knowing look that waited him from Erwin. If there was one thing the barkeep was it was perceptive, so he had no doubt noticed that for the first time in just about forever Levi had walked into the bar together with someone.

Erwin was already waiting for him when Levi stopped in front of the bar, lips quirked into a smile.

“Shut up,” Levi greeted him with. “Just give me two pints.”

He knew he was only pushing back the inevitable, and that the only reason Erwin didn’t push right now was the fact that Eren would be waiting for Levi to come back with the beer. There was no way Erwin wouldn't bring this up the very first time Levi came back here alone.

Soon two pints were slid over the bar towards him, and Erwin just grinned at him as Levi grabbed the two glasses and headed back to the small table Eren had grabbed for them.

Eren’s face lit up as Levi slid one glass towards him and sat down opposite him.

For a moment they both drank. Levi would have said something, but he didn’t do small talk, had no idea what to say, didn’t really know why he had invited Eren out at all, besides the fact that he had a ghost friend that had been annoyed with him for days because he had let Eren go again.

He let his gaze sweep over Eren over the top of his glass. He looked just as he remembered him, and it was just as eerie to see him this time, a slightly older twin to Casper.

They put their glasses down at the same time, Eren’s hand lifting to wipe away the foam that clung to his upper lip.

Silence settled between them. Eren twitched on his seat, as if he found the silence uncomfortable but had no idea how to break it. Levi say utterly calm and waited. he didn’t mind silence, found it more enjoyable than inane chitchat most of the time, and he kind of liked seeing Eren squirming.

“Erm,” Eren finally said, seeming to settle for sound rather than actual words.

“Yes?” Levi said, leaning back in his chair a little.

“How’d you, like, how’d you end up working with the ghost tours?” Eren finally finished. His fingers were curled around his glass, joints a little pale, and Levi was almost afraid Eren would just outright break his glass if he didn’t loosen his grip.

“I study history, it was the only job I could find that was remotely connected to my studies,” Levi said. He had refused to even look at any position that would entail him working in stores, or restaurants, and even though tour guide was hardly his dream job it had at least some semblance of a relativity to what he did like.

“History? You still study?” Eren asked. Levi might have been offended at the implication that he was too old to be studying, if he didn’t agree. Most of his classmates had been several years his junior, because Levi had taken a few years off schooling altogether after finishing his A-levels, when his mum…

No, he didn’t want to think about that now.

“Yes, I’m doing my master’s degree,” Levi said.

“Impressive. I’m only in my second year,” Eren said, uncurling his fingers from his glass as if he finally realised that he had been doing it.

Although Eren was still a little awkward, and Levi didn’t make things any easier, the conversation flowed easier from there. He wasn’t really sure what they even talked about, jumping from subject to subject. One pint turned to two turned to three and probably a few more on top of that, and with the alcohol warming their bodies Levi found that he could forget just why he had been drawn to Eren, forgot about the ghostly doppelgänger, and just enjoyed the company. He was a little surprised, never one to socialise much. He’d never had many friends, got tired dealing with people, so beyond those who had weaselled their way in, like Erwin and to some extent Hanji he didn’t have many. It hadn’t been a problem, nothing he missed, but he found himself thinking that maybe getting to know new people weren’t all bad.

Yet again he found himself surprised when Erwin announced closing time. Hours had passed swiftly, and he was almost disappointed they were interrupted, but got up from the chair, doing his best to keep his feet steady, because, hell, he could hold his alcohol, dammit.

He paid Erwin, waving off Eren when the kid tried to at least pay his part, and then they were headed out into the night, the cold air clearing Levi’s head. He had removed his cloak when he went to the pub, but it was cold enough that he reluctantly pulled it on now, to fend off the chill wind.

They hesitated out on the pavement.

“So, erm, I gotta take the bus,” Eren said, shuffling his feet, either because he was cold, or because he was nervous, Levi wasn’t sure which.

“I’m walking the other way,” Levi said, nodding down the street, away from the bus stop.

Eren looked almost a little disappointed, and Levi wasn’t sure what that meant.

“I really liked hanging out!” Eren said, words coming out in a tumble, a little too fast.

“I didn’t hate it either, brat,” Levi mumbled, drawing his cloak a little tighter around himself.

“So, erm, could I maybe have your number?” Eren asked, eyes wide, as if he was surprised that he had even asked.

Levi hesitated for a moment, but then he found himself saying yes, and he was sure he wouldn’t usually have, but there was something about those big eyes, he found it hard to deny Eren anything.

Which is why he found himself walking into his tiny apartment a little later, nose cold and a new phone number stored in his phone, the contact information simply saying _brat_ .

Only when the cloak was hung up along with the rest of his clothes, his face was washed, and his teeth flossed and brushed, and he was tucked up in bed, did he realise that even though they had talked for a few hours he didn’t have any more of a clue as to just who Eren was and what the connection to Casper was.

Maybe he’d have to meet him again.

### xXx

By the time Eren’s alarm clock went off he had maybe slept three hours tops, having spent the night mostly tossing and turning. Every time he fell asleep he was dragged into the old dreams, flashes of things he couldn’t piece together.

As he stumbled out of bed, eyes bleary and feet heavy he found that the dreams faded fast, and by the time he was in the shower he could no longer recollect any of them, but there was a lingering feeling that dug at his chest, that wouldn’t leave him. It felt as if he’d lost something important, but he didn’t know what, and no matter how furiously he rubbed at his chest the hollow feeling didn’t go away.

He considered skipping his lectures of the day, but he knew he’d only regret it later, so somehow he got himself out of the shower and into clothes, stumbling his way into the kitchen.

He was instantly hit with the alluring scent of freshly made coffee, and he poured himself a cup and sank down on a kitchen chair, only then realising that Armin was sitting opposite him.

Man, he was really out of it if he hadn’t even noticed his flatmate already in the kitchen.

Armin was sipping at a cup of tea, so he’d obviously made the coffee for Eren, which he was eternally grateful for.

“You came in late?” Armin said, and Eren was sure he saw a smirk behind the teacup.

“I guess,” Eren said, non-committally.

“Hangover not treating you nicely?” Armin continued

“It’s not a hangover, at least mostly not. Just, didn’t sleep well,” Eren said, squashing a yawn. He’d drunk more than he had planned last night, but his body dealt with alcohol just fine and he never really got sick from it. The lack of sleep, however, that was hell to deal with, but the coffee helped a little.

When the cup was drained, and he’d dug out a travel mug from the kitchen cabinet and filled that to the brim with more coffee he left the apartment, hurrying towards the bus stop, only barely in time to catch his bus.

He was running dangerously low on coffee by the time he walked into the lecture hall, and knew he was going to regret not rationing it, but there wasn’t anything to do about that now, so he headed down a few rows and found a free space, dropping his bag on the floor and leaning over the desk, smothering an annoyed groan when he saw the two-toned hair sitting on the row in front of him. He would have moved if it wasn’t such a chore to get up from the chair again.

As if on cue Jean turned around in his chair and spotted him, a smirk instantly spreading on his face.

“Have you never heard about concealer, Jaeger?” he asked. “It’s way too early in the semester to be spotting dark rings like that.”

Eren just glared at him. He didn’t doubt that he was spotting some massive dark rings under his eyes right now, but he didn’t really care.

“We didn’t go partying yesterday did we? On a Tuesday?” Of course Jean would completely miss the implication of the glare and keep talking.

“Shut the fuck up, Kirstein,” Eren gritted out from behind clenched teeth

Luckily for them the professor chose that very moment to start the lecture, or there was a very good chance they’d escalate the bickering into fighting. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

Eren tried paying attention, he really did, but the professor had a very soothing voice as he droned on and on, and soon he found his thoughts drifting off, back to yesterday. He had no idea why he had gone back to the tour guide, not really. It had been pretty spur of the moment, to somehow see if Levi was connected with the nightmares, which made no sense, because Levi was just a tour guide for a ghost walk company. A really good-looking tour guide, but still. Maybe the first tour had just spooked Eren more than he wanted to admit, and that was what had set them off.

He had no plan when he showed up at the meeting point, so he just went along on the tour, paying more attention to Levi than the stories he’d heard just a few days before. Levi was good at what he did. He made the stories seem so real, and he never went too far, didn’t fall into any cliches of easy scares, just told the stories, pitching his voice a little lower in some spots, and even though Eren knew what he was going to say he found himself with goosebumps at a couple of points, drawn in by his voice.

He was startled at the last stop of the tour when he heard the scratching, even if he had been prepared for it. He had no idea what made it, and Levi gave off no hints as to whether it was all an elaborate hoax or not.

Afterwards Eren hadn’t wanted to leave, found that he wanted to know more about Levi, found himself drawn to the man, and Levi seemed to catch up on it, because not long after they were sitting at a rickety table in the Hag’s Wart, talking over a couple of pints.

He wasn’t even sure what they had talked about for most of the time, the conversation just flowing naturally, and he found that Levi was surprisingly easy to talk to. He kept his sentences short and to the point, but he seemed like he didn’t care that sometimes Eren babbled a little. Or a lot.

Eren dug his hand into his pocket, pulling out his phone, making sure it was on vibrate before he pulled open his contacts, checking that he had in fact saved Levi’s number last night.

_I had a really good time yesterday_ , he typed out before he could chicken out. He added a few emojis as well, but then decided against them and deleted them. Levi didn’t seem like the type to appreciate emojis. He pressed send before he could overthink it, and then spent the next few minutes trying to pay attention to the lecture again.

The moment he felt the phone buzz against his thigh he forgot all about paying attention and dove down to unlock it and pull open the message he’d gotten.

_Same, kid_ , it simply said.

Eren couldn’t help the grin that spread on his face.

### xXx

Levi leaned against his countertop as he waited for the water to boil, tea bag already waiting in the cup. He smothered a yawn and pressed the heel of one hand against his forehead, rubbing in a futile attempt at easing the headache that had been present all day.

He had barely slept last night, mind spinning and not letting him calm down enough to slip into sleep, and he was feeling the lack of it now. He was supposed to work on his thesis all day, not having any work scheduled, but the words kept bleeding into nothing in front of his eyes, and he could barely string words together to sentences. It was useless, so he had abandoned his computer and gone to make his third cup of the day, somehow hoping the tea would help, even though he knew it wouldn’t make him any less exhausted.

Water finally boiling he filled his cup and walked back to his ratty sofa, settling on the edge and glaring at his laptop before he promptly pushed down the screen. He wouldn’t be getting any work done today.

Fingers curled around the rim of the cup he let the heat seep into his fingers before he drank.

His phone buzzed from the coffee table, pulling Levi out of his thoughts, and he leaned forward, putting down the cup and grabbing it. He wasn’t going to admit to himself that his first thought was that maybe it was Eren again. He’d gotten a message earlier in the day from him, and even though they had talked for hours yesterday and Eren had asked for his number, he still found himself surprised that Eren would actually text him.

This time it wasn’t Eren however. It was Hanji asking him to come into the office because one of their newer guides weren't working out, and she wanted to shuffle their schedules around. There was something off about the message though, it wasn’t like Hanji needed Levi to actually have him in the office, she could have just sent him suggestions via text.

_Goddamned it, Erwin_ , he muttered to himself. Erwin and Hanji knew each other, and of course Erwin would tell Hanji about the sort of date he’d had with Eren. He could just imagine the maniacal glee on Hanji’s face. She really was too invested in her guides’ lives.

Levi was on the verge of just texting back that it wasn’t going to happen, but it wasn’t like he could focus on his thesis anyway, so maybe a walk was as good an idea as any. He’d have to meet her eventually, might as well get it out of the world.

### xXx

In the end Levi didn’t have to ask Eren out at all. A week passed, and Eren and him exchanged a few messages, pretty mundane stuff, Eren complaining about his professors, or Jean, and Levi telling him of the guy who had run away during his last ghost walk. Levi kept finding himself surprised at how easy it was talking to Eren. He’d never been big on texting, but somehow it didn’t matter, because Eren didn’t seem offended when Levi answered with a simple _ok_ , and it was just nice to have someone to talk to.

Also, it made Casper very happy every time Levi mentioned that he had been talking to Eren again. Casper was about as eager as Hanji, some wingman from the past wanting nothing more than for Levi to get to know Eren better, because as Casper said, if Eren was his boyfriend, he’d totally have to come over at some point, and then Casper could meet him.

“I mean, he’s clearly handsome if he looks like me, I’m not sure why you haven’t tapped that already,” Casper said, floating a foot above the ground, on his stomach, face propped up on his hands. Levi shuddered at the phrasing. He’d never quite get used to the way Casper kept watching telly and then using all these terms willy-nilly. He needed to lay off the American shows and watch some documentaries instead.

“You don’t even know how you look,” Levi dead-panned, turning over a page in the book laying in his lap. It was really too cold to be sitting outside reading, but Casper was desperate for the company, and Levi couldn’t exactly invite him inside anywhere, so Levi just pulled the cloak tighter around his body and tried not to shiver.

“Pft,” Casper said, waving his hands at Levi. “I might not remember how I look, but I know I’m good looking. It’s just one of those things you know.”

“Whatever you say, kiddo,” Levi mumbled. He felt cold against his knee, and looked up from the book to see that Casper had moved and was kicking at Levi’s knee, which would have been more effective if he was corporeal.

“Oi! Quit it!”

Casper’s face was screwed up in a pout as he crossed his arms. “At least text him something. C’mon, pick up your phone, I’ll tell you what to write.”

Levi made a derisive noise, because he could well imagine just what Casper would dictate to him, but he still pulled his phone out of a pocket. He always turned the sound and vibration off when he was doing a tour so he wouldn't be disrupted, but he figured he should at least turn the vibrations back on. Not that anyone was likely to be calling him anytime soon, but still.

Unlocking it he saw that he had a message. Most likely just some newsletter he hadn’t yet gotten around to unsubscribe from.

He opened it, thumb hovering over the back button, but then he saw who it was from. _Eren_ . They’d talked earlier in the day, when Eren was done with his lectures for the day, but this message wasn’t to complain about school.

_Do you maybe wanna go out and get some food tomorrow?_

It took Levi a moment to realise that Casper was trying to get his attention, back at kicking at his knee and waving hands in his face.

“Duuude, that was totally him wasn’t it. I can see the smile on your face, you never smile!”

Levi groaned and turned his attention back to the phone, ignoring the icy feel of Casper’s continued kicking, now moved to his other knee.

_I have a meeting about my thesis at 3 pm, but I’m free after that?_

He felt cold down his back as Casper gave up trying to get his attention and had basically climbed through him to be able to peer down at the phone screen.

“Ooooh,” he yelled, right in Levi’s ear. “You’re going on a date!”

“It’s not a date,” Levi grumbled. “We’re just getting food.”

“And then you are going to bone!”

“I’m leaving now,” Levi said, rising and brushing dry leaves off his ass. Casper complained, but Levi just shot him a middle finger over his shoulder as he left, book tucked under his shoulder.

“It’s totally a date!” Casper yelled after him as Levi rounded a corner and headed back home.

### xXx

Eren contemplated his choices. He could go super laid back with ripped jeans and a hoodie, or a bit less casual, jeans with less holes and a button up shirt or something. But would that look too dressed up?

He had been fretting ever since he came back home to his apartment after his lectures of the day, discarding outfits, not really happy with any of them. He had purposefully made the text message to Levi vague last night, not wanting to outright ask him on a date in case Levi just laughed in his face at the idea. This way it could be a date, or it could be just two mates going out to get some food, no big deal.

He groaned and tossed another pair of jeans behind himself, nearly knocking over his bedside lamp.

“Eren?” he heard from the doorway, and stopped midway through digging out more clothes and turned around with a yelp to see Mikasa watching him, eyes narrowed. Eren made sure his towel wasn’t about to fall off. Sure, growing up together meant that Mikasa had seen about everything he had to show, but even so he wasn’t keen on flashing her.

“Yes?” he said, heart beating in his chest. She’d startled him, but he should be used to it, because she had the tendency to sneak up on people.

“Are you going out for dinner?”

“Yeah,” Eren said, and he couldn't quite stop the grin on his face. Mikasa didn’t seem to notice, or if she did she just didn’t care.

“Alright, I won’t make food for you then,” she said, turning around and leaving the room.

Eren shook his head. She hadn’t even bothered asking who he was going out with. She was the least gossipy person in the world, clearly.

“Oh, by the way, text me where you go so I know where to go if I you get yourself kidnapped by some creep,” Mikasa called out from the kitchen.

That was more like it. Mikasa had always been very protective of him, he’d been shocked if she didn’t make at least a small threat when he was going out to meet someone.

“Sure!” Eren called out, knowing that Mikasa wouldn’t hesitate to grab the nearest kitchen knife and hunt down anyone who tried to hurt him. Mikasa could be a little terrifying.

In the end he ended up with a pair of jeans that was almost without holes, and a soft green jumper that somehow trod the line between casual and dressed up. He stuffed his pockets with phone, keys and his wallet and left, but not before telling Mikasa which restaurant he was headed for. Not that he believed that Levi was going to hurt him, but because he believed Mikasa would knock on the door of every restaurant in the city if he should forget to tell her and then be late coming home.

He had plenty of time before he was meeting up with Levi, so he decided to walk. His jacket was a little too thin for the cold wind, but it wasn’t too bad, just left his cheeks tingling and his nose red on the tip.

By the time he got to the restaurant it was still ten minutes until they were supposed to meet up, but he walked inside to wait in the warmth, only to find Levi already there, standing in the small waiting area inside the door.

“Hi!” Eren said with a smile when he saw him, and he thought maybe he saw Levi give a hint of a smile back, but it was hard to tell with the dim lighting.

The restaurant wasn’t fancy, but it was cosy, and the Indian food was great. Eren only now realised he had forgotten to ask if Levi actually liked Indian food, but he would have said something when Eren told him where to meet up, yeah? Wasn’t like the name, Pride of India, didn’t completely give away what kind of food they served.

Eren shrugged off his jacket and folded it over an arm as he approached the girl who had control over the reservations, feeling Levi follow after him. Eren had to fight himself not to turn around, sure he could feel Levi’s eyes on him, making him shudder just a little.

Soon they were sinking into red velvet armchairs, seated at a small table. Eren scooted forward a little on his seat, and grabbed the menu to have something to do with his hands. Opposite him Levi did the same, scanning through the options. Technically Eren didn’t need to look at the menu, always ordered one of the same three things, depending on whether he wanted lamb or chicken or something spicier than usual. And of course garlic naan, because garlic naan was life.

“So, see something you want?” Eren said, mostly to break the silence. “I forgot to even ask if you wanted Indian, but like, everyone likes Indian yeah?” He had the sudden urge to slap a hand over his mouth to stop the word vomit, but managed by pressing his lips together and looking back down at the menu.

“I don’t mind Indian,” Levi said, and Eren could swear he sounded amused.

Soon enough they ordered, and their menus were taken away, leaving Eren tugging at the sleeves of his sweater to occupy his hands.

Levi seemed perfectly at ease in the silence between them, leaning back in his chair and glancing around the room.

Eren used the opportunity to really look at Levi. Hooded eyes under narrow eyebrows gave him a perpetually angry look, that somehow wasn’t detrimental to his overall looks at all. His features was surprisingly fine, a small nose, thin lips and a narrow jaw that would almost look a little feminine on anyone else, but on Levi it just looked... good. He was a little intimidating, but Eren found himself intrigued, had since the first time he really looked at him back during the first ghost walk.

He couldn't quite put his finger on what had made him feel drawn towards Levi. Sure, he was good-looking, and Eren could appreciate a good looking man, but that was hardly all. There were plenty of handsome men to be found after all. No, there was something else, some small part of him telling him he knew Levi, that he was important, or had been important once. Like a distant memory he had long since forgotten floating back to the surface.

Eren startled when he realised that Levi’s attention had turned from the room to him, watching Eren, look unreadable. Eren looked away, hoping he wasn’t blushing at having been caught staring.

Levi didn’t seem to care either way, didn’t say anything until Eren look back. Their gazes met over the table, and this time Eren didn’t immediately look away, but held his gaze.

They were interrupted by the waiter moments later, pulling up to their table with water and a small tray of papadums and dip. Eren wasn’t sure he was glad for the distraction or not, but broke off a piece and loaded it with too much chilli, regretting the moment he stuffed it in his mouth.

“I was wondering,” Eren said, throat on fire, and eyes watering, “About that haunted house, is it a trick?” He dove towards the mug of water, filling a glass and hoping Levi didn’t realise just how much pain he was in.

A small smirk tugged on Levi’s lips as he dipped his piece of papadum in a milder dip. “There’s no tricks on the walk,” he said simply, offering no more explanation.

Eren leaned closer, almost forgetting his burning mouth. “There’s no trick? But the sounds, it’s not an actual ghost, is it?”

“Isn’t it?”

“But, like, ghosts aren’t actually real, are they?”

Levi leaned a little closer to Eren, hand resting on the table, and Eren caught himself glancing down and noting that Levi had really pretty hands, fingers long and slender, before he tore his gaze up again.

“I believe there’s more to this world than we can see and explain,” Levi started. “The city is old, the houses has been here for hundreds of years, people have been born and lived and died here. There’s energy in life and death, who is to say that sometimes that energy doesn't stay behind?”

“So, all the stories you told are real?”

“Everything I tell during the tours are real. It’s all grounded in history. There’s a lot of gruesome deaths in a city like this, plenty of stories to tell, and gruesome deaths always bring with them tales of ghosts and spirits. Whether it’s true, or just superstition and fear I don’t know, but I only tell stories that have happened, and stories that have been circulating for years. I don’t make up anything, and there’s no cheap tricks or actors. If something happen I don’t have any more explanation than you do.”

There was something about Levi that made Eren believe him completely. Sure, if there had been tricks behind it all a ghost walk guide wasn’t likely to give it away, but there was something about Levi that told Eren that Levi wouldn’t stand for something like that.

Which was silly, Eren barely knew Levi, had only talked to him a few times, it wasn’t like he could truly judge his characters, but he just felt that if there was one thing Levi was it was truthful. He wouldn’t be bothered making up stories.

Soon their food arrived, and conversation stilled in favour of eating. Eren kept glancing up at Levi, and now and again he met Levi’s gaze, as if Levi had been looking at him as well.

Food gone they continued their conversation, going from Levi's work to Eren's (part-time at the local Tesco, hardly exciting), and then on. Levi asked about Eren's family after Eren mentioned that it was his aunt that had gotten him the job.

Levi seemed genuinely interested as Eren told about how his mother was Turkish but had moved to Germany where she met Eren’s father. They’d lived in Germany until Eren was six, when his parents divorced. His father had cared more about his job than he ever had his family, and in the end his mother had enough. The move to England came because her sister already lived here, and Eren’s mum wanted them to be closer to family. There were little of that back in Turkey, Eren’s grandparents long passed.

Eren told of the shock of coming to a country where he could just barely make himself understood, of going to school where he had to wear a uniform, something he hated desperately. He told Levi about Mikasa, the girl next door whose parents cared more for drugs than her, and how in the end she ended up his sister. He told him about Armin, the tiny kid with the bowl cut and big eyes that had befriended Eren on his first day in school, seemingly caring little that Eren couldn't speak English.

It was so easy talking to Levi, and Eren barely realised he was rambling until the waiter finally interrupted him to ask if they wanted dessert. They both declined, but Levi asked for a cup of tea, and then he was leaning forward, stapling his fingers together as he looked at Eren, as if he wasn’t bored at all, but wanted to know more.

“Erm, I’m sorry for rambling on,” Eren said, looking away and brushing a hand through his hair. “Tell me about your family?”

“Not much to tell. Deadbeat father, probably drank himself to death years ago, I have no idea. Grew up with my mum. She passed a few years ago. Cancer.”

“Shit, I’m sorry Levi, I shouldn’t have—”

“It’s fine. I don’t have much in the way of family, but I’m glad you do. You seem to care for them a lot.”

“Yeah, they are important to me,” Eren said. He didn’t live with his mother anymore, but he visited often to eat Turkish food and get spoiled. Mikasa he lived with, and although he didn’t have much contact with his father it wasn’t a big loss in his life. He got a card every birthday with money and that was about as far as their relationship went, but he had other family that cared.

Too soon they left the restaurant, walking side by side down the pavement.

“Do you live far from here?” Levi asked, and for a moment Eren thought maybe he was about to invite himself home, and shit, he wasn’t sure if he was ready for that, his room was a mess of clothes, and Armin was probably home and—he was probably getting way ahead of himself, Levi was likely just making conversation.

“About a twenty-minute walk towards the river," he said. "You?" 

“Across town, so I’ll have to take the bus,” Levi said. He’d pulled on a jacket and wrapped a scarf around his neck, chin and mouth mostly hidden behind the wool, and it was a really endearing look, but Eren wasn’t about to say so.

“I’ll follow you to the bus stop then!” he said instead, and Levi just nodded. Eren might as well take the bus home as well, would save him the walk.

The stop was only around a corner, but there was no bus in sight, so they stood there, side by side, shoulders almost bumping (or well, Levi’s shoulder and Eren’s upper arm, Levi was decidedly shorter than him). Eren saw out of the corner of his eye that Levi tipped his head back, peering up at the night sky, and Eren found himself doing the same, and saw the moon high above him, well on its way towards full, bright in an otherwise black sky. Cars passed by, but as they stood there the sound of them faded away, and for a few moments it felt as if there was only the two of them in the world, standing alone under a dark night sky.

Then a group of girls well into their night out stumbled past, one of them bumping into Eren and pushing him into Levi’s side. Levi barely stumbled, catching Eren’s weight easily, and damned, he was stronger than he looked, which wasn’t a fact that should have Eren’s mouth suddenly feel dry.

Levi made sure he was standing firmly again, and Eren could swear Levi’s hand lingered on Eren’s arm a little longer than it needed, but before he could process it a bus stopped, and then Levi was saying goodbye and leaving, and Eren waved lamely after him, and then he was left alone at the stop. He checked the timetable, realised the his next bus was still half an hour away so he turned towards his apartment and started walking, feeling oddly warm even though the wind was still chilly. 

### xXx

The next evening found Levi back in the small garden that was Casper’s home, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen anyone quite as pleased with themselves as the ghost was right now.

“I told you it would be a good idea to find him, didn’t I?” Casper said. Levi was starting to seriously regret telling him about the date last night. (It _was_ a date Casper had stated, quite adamant. Levi didn’t contradict him.)

“So, when are you going to meet him again? Gonna make it official soon?”

Levi looked up at Casper, looking as unimpressed as he could possibly pull off. “We went out to dinner, once. It was barely a date.”

Casper grinned, seemingly happy that Levi had admitted to it being a date. “You should text him, tell him you miss him.”

“I saw the kid yesterday, I don’t miss him.”

“Don’t you though?” Casper asked, and Levi was about to brush him off him, but found the words catching in his throat. It wasn't that he missed him per se, but his thoughts had seemed to end up back on Eren throughout the day, even without Casper’s prodding.

“Shut up,” Levi muttered, but he couldn’t help himself as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, looking at it just in case he’d gotten a message. He hadn’t, and he couldn’t quite explain why he found that disappointing.

“Mate, you are so into him,” Casper said, leaning closer, big grin on his face. Levi lifted a hand to push his face away, but it passed right through him, goosebumps spreading up his arm from the cold.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Levi mumbled, crossing his arms in front of his chest and pointedly ignoring Casper.

“Please message him, I’ll even tell you what to say. Start by thanking him for the hot date, then compliment him, but nicely, like, his eyes or something, you know, something romantic. Then tell him you’d love to see him again. He’ll eat it right up, I know he will.”

“How the fuck do you know anything about dating,” Levi said. “Is there really a lot of action on your plane of existence? I distinctly remember you telling me you’d never met any other ghosts, and that I was the only person who could see you, and you better know I’m not dating you.”

Casper pouted, looking away, and Levi almost expected him to leave.

“I’ve watched it on the telly okay, it’s not that difficult.”

Levi huffed a laugh.

“Don’t you laugh at me!” Casper yelled, sticking a finger right in Levi’s face. “You just have some faith in me and I can guarantee you another date.”

Levi glared at the finger, and for a second he almost thought it flickered out of view for a moment, but it must have been a trick of light, because when he blinked it was still there, pointing at him in some accusation.

Levi groaned and pulled out his phone, unlocking it, ignoring the little pleased sound Casper made.

He typed out a quick message, devoid of compliments, a simple question asking if Eren wanted to do something this weekend.

Casper whooped in glee, terribly pleased that he had talked Levi into this, _again_ . Levi was such a pushover.


	3. Chapter 3

“I swear I thought it was going to be good!” Eren exclaimed in defence.

“You thought a movie about an ageing cop switching bodies with a college girl would be good?” Levi asked, narrow eyebrows rising in disbelief.

“The trailer made it seem funny,” Eren muttered, kicking at a rock on the pavement, feeling utterly embarrassed that he’d dragged Levi to that utter shitfest of a movie. He was going to kill Jean, because Jean had kept telling him how good it was and how he totally needed to watch it. Eren wasn’t sure if Jean was yanking his chain, or if his taste in movies really was that shitty. Actually, it was probably the latter.

“It could have been worse, I guess,” Levi said.

“Yeah? How?”

“Well…” Levi started, but he couldn’t seem to come up with anything.

Eren groaned. “I’m so sorry, at least let me treat you to some food or something to make up for it.”

“You don’t have to, I ate before we went out,” Levi said, and Eren sagged a little in disappointment. Not so much because Levi didn’t want his apology, but because it meant that the night was most likely over, which meant he’d have to say goodbye to Levi, and he really didn’t want to, not when all they’d done was watch a shitty movie. He already regretted the choice of date venue.

He wasn’t sure if it was because Levi saw Eren’s disappointment, or if there was another reason altogether, but before Eren could say anything else he added, “I wouldn’t mind a cup of tea though.”

Eren perked right up. Levi wanted tea, and he clearly wanted to have it together with Eren. “Oh, we can go somewhere, maybe there’s a coffee shop open somewhere around here? I mean, I have tea at home too, but also my sister and—”

Levi broke him off, which was probably just as well. “I have tea at my place as well,” he said.

“Should we, head there?” Eren asked, hoping that was what Levi had been implying. He wanted nothing more than spend more time with Levi. They might not have known each other long, just a few weeks, but there was something about Levi that made Eren feeling like he had known him a lifetime. Not because he was talkative and told him all about his life, or anything like that. No, it was just a feeling deep in his soul, and Eren had never felt anything like it before. All he knew was that everything felt a little better when he was with Levi, and it should maybe scare him, but it didn’t.

Levi gave him a small smile, barely a quirk of narrow lips, and then nodded in the direction of the bus stop. “Let’s.”

Now, Eren was not some blushing virgin, he well knew what going home with someone after several dates meant. The tea felt like little more than an excuse, and as they sat side by side on the bus and Eren sent small glances towards Levi out of the corner of his eye he couldn’t quite stop himself from imagining just what could be happening tonight.

His hands were curled around his knees, sweaty palms dragging against denim as he debated about whether he should reach out for Levi’s hand, or if that would be weird, but before he could make up his mind Levi was nudging his shoulder, indicating that their stop was coming up. They walked side by side up the pavement, and Eren kept glancing at Levi out of the corner of his eye. He was a fair bit shorter than him, slimmer over the shoulders too, but it was as if he’d never even noticed that he was short, stride purposeful, neck held high, and most of the time he seemed a lot more imposing than his stature would indicate.

Eren ran a hand through his hair, feeling a little unnerved, still surprised by the fact that Levi seemed willing to spend time with him. Compared to Levi Eren felt young and lacking, and at the same time good. He wanted to be better, as if just being around Levi made him want to improve, work harder, prove himself, and it was a good feeling.

Levi headed up a short staircase towards a door that had been painted green at some point, but the paint had dulled and was flaking off in big patches. He stopped there, key in his hand, turning around. With Eren below him on the stairs they were mostly the same height. Levi hesitated a moment, as if he was thinking about what to say. His eyebrows drew down a little bit when he did, creating a shadow of a wrinkle in between his eyebrows. He clearly frowned too much, would be left with a permanent wrinkle between his brows when he got older, and somehow he made it look good.

“Oi, brat, you know this can just be tea, yeah?”

Eren could feel himself blushing. “Ah, yeah, I, er, know.” He felt his blush grow warmer at his stumbled words, feeling every bit the awkward twenty-one year old he was.

Levi looked at him for another moment, and Eren almost thought he was about to take back his invitation, but then he turned towards the door, unlocked it and held it open for Eren.

They walked up a narrow staircase, Levi first with Eren on his tail, and Eren’s gaze dropped down to Levi’s ass, because it was right there, and Eren was a weak man.

The second floor consisted of a short hallway with greyish carpet that might have been a whole other colour at some point, and two doors on opposite sides. Levi unlocked one of them, and Eren followed him inside the apartment.

He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but at the same time it was and wasn’t this. The apartment was small and sparsely furnished, but it looked well taken care of. Not as much as an empty cup left in the sink it was spotless, which was a far cry from the apartment Eren stayed in.

The entrance door had opened directly into the living room, carpeted in a dark blue. To one side was an open doorway leading into a tiny kitchen, barely enough room for the two of them. Then there were two other doors, which probably lead to the bathroom and bedroom respectively.

Levi placed his shoes in a rack by the front door, and Eren followed, instantly regretting not spending more attention when he got dress, because his socks were clearly a wear or two away from a full-on hole on the heel, but it was too late to do anything about that.

Levi made his way into the kitchen, filling a kettle with water and placing in on the stove top before getting cups out of a cabinet. Not the thick ceramic jugs like Eren had, with funny pictures or saying on them, but old-fashioned teacups, dainty with matching porcelain saucers. It seemed oddly fitting.

Eren stayed in the doorway of the room, watching him, a small smile playing over his lips when he saw the way Levi had to go up on the tips of his toes to reach the box of tea. He almost wanted to go over there and take it out for him, but he was also a little afraid of Levi’s reaction.

In the end Levi managed just fine on his own, and soon they were sitting on his two-seater sofa, steaming cups of tea on the small coffee table.

“You are not nearly as annoying as I thought you would be,” Levi said.

Eren stammered, having no idea what to say in response to that.

“I've been doing these walks for years, I've learnt to read people well enough, and when you came there, wearing those bloody stupid sunglasses after sunset… I was sure you were going to be a pain in my ass the entire night." 

Eren remembered that, he still wasn't sure why Jean and he had ended up wearing them, some stupid dare he'd already forgotten about, because there were a lot of them.

“I thought the walk would be boring, or, you know, like contrived?" Eren admitted as Levi curled his fingers around the edge of his teacup, drinking, grey eyes not wavering from Eren at all. 

“Was it?” Levi asked, even though he was sure to know the answer already.

“It was great. I thought there would be some cheap tricks or lots of dull history facts, you know? But then those stories were actually kind of scary? And then that last house, I still have no idea what the whole deal is about that, but shit, that was terrifying.”

Levi chuckled. "I've had people run away after that last stop, which sucks, because then there are no tips for me."

“You aren’t going to tell me what made that sound, are you?” Eren asked. He’d turned on the sofa, sitting almost sideways, one of his knees resting against Levi’s thigh.

“There's no trick, if that's what you think. I don't do cheap tricks." He seemed to contemplate something for a moment before continuing. "There is… something though. I might show you sometime, when I think you are ready." 

Eren could swear there was a smirk on Levi's face, but it was mostly obscured behind the rim of the teacup.

Silence settled over them as they both drank their teas. Eren had never gotten the fascination Brits had with the beverage, but it was decent enough, and it gave him something to do with his hands, even if he was scared he was going to break the cup half the time.

Eren finished his tea before Levi did, but he kept fiddling with the cup to keep his hands occupied. He racked his brain in an attempt to find something to say, but everything he could think of sounded contrived, so in the end he said nothing, just cast glances over at Levi as Levi finished his own cup, eyes occasionally meeting Levi's over the rim of his teacup. Every time it sent a little shiver down Eren's back. He swore he could feel the tension building in the room with every passing moment of silence, and he had an idea of what would happen when that tension finally snapped.

The sofa creaked a little as Levi leaned forward, placing his teacup on the coffee table, and when he reached out and plucked Eren's cup from his hands Eren made no move to stop him.

Levi shifted to his side, facing Eren, one elbow slung over the back of the sofa. His fingers reached out, snatching a lock of Eren’s hair, tugging lightly on it, reminding Eren that he had been meaning to get a cut, but hadn’t gotten around to it. His hair was just long enough that Levi could tuck it behind his ear, and then those slim fingers traced down Eren’s cheek, pads soft against Eren’s skin as they slid back towards his neck, curving lightly around it, and nudging Eren closer.

Eren went willingly, knew what was about to happen, and every atom of his body was eager, wanted nothing more than to fall into Levi. His eyelids fluttered shut, anticipation was coursing through him, warm and electric.

Then lips pressed against Eren’s, and they were slim, but soft, and the small touch was enough to have Eren’s heart beat faster in his heart, his breath catch in his throat.

His hands pressed against Levi’s chest, needing the touch, and Levi’s hand was a firm presence on his back, grounding him further, and as they kissed, soft and testing still, it was as if everything else faded from existence. All worry was gone, all pain vanishing, and the part of Eren that had always felt like there was something just a little bit wrong with him faded completely, as if just Levi’s touch righted the wrongs, warming his very soul from the inside, and no kiss had ever affected him like this, so profoundly, and Eren’s mind was spinning even as he kept kissing, never wanting it to stop, because he had longed for this, but even in his wildest dream had he been unable to imagine anything close to how this felt.

Levi pulled away, and it took Eren a moment to notice, his eyes opening and looking right into Levi’s grey ones. “You’re something, Eren Jaeger,” Levi said, voice pitched low, his breath fanning over Eren’s mouth.

A whine rose in Eren’s throat, unlike anything he’d heard himself make ever before, but before he could get too embarrassed about it Levi was kissing him again, deeper and rougher than before. His tongue swept out to trace along Eren’s bottom lip before he pulled the flesh of it between his teeth, biting down. Eren gasped, his hands curling around the fabric of Levi’s shirt, wanting to pull him closer, wanting more more more.

Levi seemed to be thinking the same, because while he kept kissing Eren he swung a leg over his lap, straddling Eren and pushing him back against the back of the sofa. This way Levi was taller than him, Eren's neck tipping back a little to make up for the change of angle.

Eren had never considered himself particularly submissive. Was more than pleased to take the control of a situation, most often doing it without even thinking about it. He’d been told he had a temper ever since he was a kid, was told he kept rushing into situations without thinking them through, but right now he had no need to take control, to do anything other than lay here and let Levi do whatever he wanted with his body. It felt as if Levi could take him apart piece by piece and then put him back together again, better than before, and no simple kiss should affect him like this, but Levi was different, he’d felt that since the first night he met him, was drawn to him, couldn’t keep his gaze away from him during that first ghost walk, felt as if he knew him, or _should_ know him, and just knew that Levi was important, even though he had no idea why, or how.

Like this everything is falling into place, and it makes sense, but Eren doesn’t even care, because all he can think about is Levi’s body against his, his lips and tongue kissing him deeply, fingers burrowed deep in Eren’s mess of hair, and he is beyond turned on, desperate for more.

xXx

Levi felt like a teenager again as he snogged the life out of Eren, but he couldn’t find it in himself to see anything wrong with that, because Eren was warm and pliant underneath him, and his lips were so so soft, and he made the smallest sounds of protest every time Levi pulled away for more than a fraction of a second.

A part of him thought he could just stay here all night, just kissing until they fell asleep tangled together, but another part of him kept urging him to take more, do more. He wanted to see Eren naked underneath him, wanted to trace every part of his body with his fingers, wanted to see him fall apart, and it was a heady feeling he wasn’t accustomed to, because he rarely felt more than annoyance towards other people and annoyance rarely lead to lust, but just kissing Eren had him wanting more.

Judging by Eren’s whines he didn’t think Eren would be opposed to more, and semi-reluctantly Levi slid back and off Eren’s lap. Eren blinked up at him, seeming almost confused by the change. Levi grabbed the front of Eren’s sweater and pulled him up. He should be annoyed by the way Eren was so much taller than him standing up, but he’d just rectify that by pushing him down on his bed.

Eren followed like an obedient puppy as Levi headed towards the bedroom, switching on the light. The room wasn’t much to brag about, but it had a bed, and right now that was about all they were going to need.

Eren looked a little uncertain, his gaze dropping down to Levi’s lips before dragging up to his eyes again, almost as if he was asking permission to kiss him. _Cute_ , Levi thought.

It was impossible to deny him, and soon they fell into each other again, kissing hard, hands exploring bodies. It was so natural the way they stumbled towards the bed, the way Eren removed his sweater the moment Levi started thinking that the fabric needed to be gone.

Eren scooted backwards on the bed until he was lying in the middle, looking up at Levi with big eyes, pupils blown large with arousal. There was an unmistakable tent in his jeans, and Levi smirked, knowing that he was the reason for just that reaction.

Eren's eyes were more than intrigued as Levi unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. He didn't like just throwing it on the floor, but he wasn't about to get off the bed to hang it either, not when Eren was looking at him like that, so he let the fabric flutter to the ground, knowing he'd cleaned just the other day anyway, so the floor had been thoroughly scrubbed.

He was sitting on his knees, Eren’s legs splayed on either side of his, putting him nicely on display. The skin on his upper body was as nicely tanned as his face, all golden brown, covering the nicely muscled body of someone who clearly went to the gym. He was pleasantly surprised.

He placed his hands, palm down, on the jut of Eren’s hip bones, feeling the heat of his skin, and slowly he dragged his hands upwards, feeling muscles tense underneath his touch. Eren kept staring up at him, looking completely mesmerised by everything that was happening, breath growing heavy, tongue darting out to wet his plump bottom lip.

It was as his hands crossed over Eren’s pecs that Levi suddenly noticed it, a black mark right along Eren’s collarbone. He didn’t know why that had him suddenly stop, but he found himself leaning in closer, as if it was important.

It had to be a tattoo, had that greyish tinge to the colour of a tattoo that had been there a few years already. It was a rather simple design, a black silhouette of an old-fashioned key, nothing that out of the ordinary, but as Levi’s finger dragged over the tattoo he was struck with the feeling that he had seen it before, that he should know this mark. Or, maybe not the mark, should know that key.

“Why a key?” he asked, still not able to drag his gaze away from the tattoo. There was significance to it, but Levi had no idea why he felt that way, couldn’t place it, just knew it was important in some way.

It took Eren a moment to answer, as if he wasn’t quite sure what Levi was talking about at first.

“Oh, the tattoo?" he asked, a hand lifting to trace it, fingers brushing Levi's. 

Levi hummed, encouraging Eren to tell more.

Eren hesitated, as if he was looking for the right words. “It’s… This image I’ve seen in my dreams, since I was young?” he finally said, sounding almost unsure, as if he’d never told this before, never explained.

“In the dreams, there’s always this key, and it seemed important, but I never knew why, but it just stuck with me. It just felt right to have it in real life, like it, like it belonged there, around my neck,” Eren said, looking away from Levi. “It’s dumb, I know, just a dream, and a stupid key.”

“It’s not dumb, brat. It’s clearly important to you, which is a lot better than most tattoos already,” Levi said. He decided to ignore the tattoo for now, but even as he leaned back in to kiss Eren again he felt the image nagging at his mind, but as Eren wrapped his arms around Levi’s midriff and yanked him close he forgot about it, let himself be distracted by the feeling of a warm, strong body against his.

It didn't take long before things got heated enough for their trousers to be a serious hindrance, and Levi leaned back on his knees again, making quick work on the fly of Eren's jeans and yanking them off his legs. Eren's boxers went along with them, leaving him gloriously naked on display in front of him. There was a blush darkening Eren's cheeks, but he made no move to hide from Levi's gaze.

This boy was too pretty for his own good. All tan skin and strong body, his cock curving nicely up against his taut abdomen, wetness beading on the tip already.

“Shit, shouldn’t be legal,” Levi muttered.

Eren seemed to think he was taking too long, because only moments later he put those stomach muscles to use, folding his upper body up, hands burying themselves in Levi’s hair and dragging him in for a kiss.

“Took too long,” Eren muttered into the kiss, hands going down to work Levi’s trousers off, impatient.

Eren kept surprising him. One moment he seemed almost shy, and then next he was pushing a hand inside Levi’s underwear, large palm wrapping around his cock, hand warm and soft apart for the faintest hint of calluses. His lips were on Levi’s chest, kissing down his clavicle.

Eren was good with his hands, just enough pressure, sliding over the head to gather the moisture gathering there, thumb sliding firmly against the slit, and Levi thought he would almost be content just letting Eren get him off like that, but it would be a terrible waste of the gorgeous body lying on his bed, so he grabbed Eren’s wrist to stop him, and Eren looked up at him with eyes filled with lust, looking intense, like he could just about devour Levi, and Levi loved it, seeing that there was definitely a dominant side to Eren, one that could give as good as it took.

Not today though, tonight Levi would be the one to take Eren.

Hands around Eren’s wrist he pushed the boy back against the mattress, pinning him in place. Eren’s thighs were parted on either side of Levi’s hips, making it oh so easy for Levi to lean close, rolling his hips, and dragging sweet moans out of Eren’s mouth as their cocks slid together.

Eren threw his head back, arching his body up against Levi, and Levi used the opportunity to slide his lips down over Eren’s jaw, sucking a bruise into his throat before moving down over his collarbones, eyes automatically going to the tattoo, but he shook the uneasy feeling off in favour of locking his teeth around one dusky nipple, very pleased with the broken whimper Eren made at that. Levi would most definitely be exploring that further at a later point, but right now he had more prudent ideas.

“Levi, please,” Eren groaned, hips twitching up against Levi.

“Full sentences,” Levi said, fingers dragging down the dips of Eren’s stomach, muscles drawing tight underneath his touch.

“Please, please fuck me,” Eren said, voice wavering a little, as if embarrassed. It shouldn’t be as endearing as it was.

“The drawer of the nightstand," Levi said, knowing it wouldn't take Eren long to find what he wanted, because the only other thing in that drawer beside lube and condoms were a book. He took a moment to appreciate the way Eren's muscles bunched up as he twisted to the side to grab what they needed, but then sank down, mouth locking around the head of Eren's cock. 

He heard the distinct sound of a plastic bottle hitting the carpet as Eren lost it, probably distracted by the feeling of Levi’s mouth around his cock, and Levi just hoped the lid hadn’t opened, because he did not want to spend his night scrubbing lube out of a carpet.

He peered up at Eren, and saw a blush tingeing his cheeks as he looked down at where Levi’s lips were wrapped around him, lips parted. He looked completely stunned by what was happening.

Half-reluctantly Levi pulled away, rising up on his knees, looking down at Eren. “I thought you wanted me to fuck you,” he said, and Eren’s blush deepened as he nodded sharply and twisted over the edge of the bed to retrieve the bottle, all but throwing it at Levi alongside a strip of condoms.

Levi shook his head at Eren’s eagerness, but grabbed the bottle, coating his fingers.

It was hard to focus on stretching Eren properly when every time Levi pushed deeper or curled his fingers, or pressed another against his rim, Eren would let out the softest sounds, so unlike what Levi would have thought. It was distracting in the best of ways.

It didn’t take long until the soft whimpers and moans were replaced with a litany of Levi’s names and pleas for him to _more more more_ .

Levi wouldn’t have given in so easily if it wasn’t for the fact that he was horny as hell. He was quick to pull on a condom and then he was sinking into Eren’s warmth, feeling muscles lock down around his cock as Eren tensed. He had to stop, let Eren adjust before he could finally sink in fully.

Eren’s legs locked in the small of Levi’s back, his arms went around Levi’s neck, pulling him close, chest against chest, lips against lips, and all Levi could do was kiss Eren and rock slowly into his body.

It was good. Eren was warm and his skin was soft against him, and he made no move to hide how Levi made him feel whatsoever, pleading for more, hands moving over Levi’s back as if he needed to touch and feel.

Levi lifted on his knees, hands on Eren’s thighs as he slowly started thrusting properly, long hard moves into Eren’s willing body. The skin grew slick underneath his hands, and normally Levi wasn’t one for sweat, but like this he didn’t mind. It made the air smell of Eren and sex and it was a heady scent.

“Levi, I—ah—I…” Eren moaned in between thrusts, hands fisting in the sheets.

“Shit, Eren, come for me,” Levi said, voice low. Eren’s eyes went wide, locking on Levi’s, intense and filled with lust. Eren peeled one hand away from the sheets to curl around his neglected cock, getting himself off as Levi kept thrusting into him hard and fast.

It didn’t take long until Eren tensed up, ass squeezing down around Levi as he came, streaks of white shooting over his abdomen, head thrown back, neck bared.

Levi stopped thrusting as Eren’s body went loose, the taut arch of his back as he had come folding back to the mattress. His chest was red with a warm blush, and he looked gorgeous as he looked up at Levi, lips parted as he panted, eyelids heavy.

Levi pulled out, let Eren's thighs fall back to the mattress as he pulled off the condom, tied it off and with a few quick strokes he too came, adding to the mess of Eren's body.

Eren's bottom lip was pulled between white teeth as his gaze strayed down to Levi's cock, watching until Levi was spent and let go.

He wanted to just topple over on his side and fall asleep, but he still had a dirty condom to dispose of, and he had to clean Eren as well, before he smeared that mess all over his bed.

Reluctantly he got up, heading to the bathroom to fetch a wet washcloth.

Eren hummed a little as Levi cleaned off his abdomen and chest, looking very pleased with himself, and by the time Levi got back from having tossed the dirty washcloth in the hamper Eren was already falling asleep.

Levi kind of wanted a shower before bed, didn’t like the idea of messing up his clean sheets with their sweaty skin, but he could also tell that getting Eren off the bed right now would be more work than it was worth, so he just pulled the duvet free from underneath Eren and pulled it over himself, turning so his back was towards Eren.

“Turn off the lights,” he mumbled, and moments later there was a click from the lamp on the nightstand and darkness settled over the room.

Eren tossed and turned a little behind him, but finally the duvet lifted and a warm body slid in behind Levi, and a moment later a strong arm wrapped around his waist, and Levi found himself pulled close, his back pressed up against Eren’s chest, soft lips pressed against his neck.

“G‘night Levi,” Eren muttered.

Levi huffed out something that could maybe be interpreted as a _night_ , and he could feel Eren’s lips pull into a grin against his skin.

### xXx

Levi treated himself with a smirk when he saw the startled looks on the group he was touring as Casper did his thing, a slam of a door echoing in the street. clearly coming from a supposedly empty house. One of the men in the group, a tall broad fellow in a Manchester United shirt, made a high-pitched scream as the lamp upstairs flickered on for a moment, stumbling backwards into one of his friends.

Men in their thirties could be hit and miss when it came to ghost walks. Some were cocky and kept interrupting him, and some were already well on their way to drunk when they started the tour, so Levi had been wary when he saw six fellows in matching shirts waiting for him at the meeting point, but they hadn’t been all bad, which was a relief.

Levi ushered the group on, away from the haunted house and towards safer areas were street lights calmed the group’s nerves, finishing off and sending the people in the direction of the nearest buses and The Hag's Wart. A couple of the guys stopped to slip him some tips, which was a nice change from the last group where no one had seemed inclined to do anything other than find a place to get a beer.

He pocketed the pound notes and turned around, trudging his way back to the small garden where Casper would no doubt be waiting for him. If there was one thing Casper loved it was getting grown men to scream, so he’d be full of himself, but Levi still owed him a visit. Hadn’t seen him in a few days, too busy with work on his thesis, and with Eren.

It was a strange feeling, suddenly having someone to spend your nights with, someone you actually wanted to see, but Eren had managed to weasel his way into Levi’s life, upturning it, and Levi had willingly let him, sacrificing nights of drinking tea and reading for nights with Eren, naked and moaning underneath him. It wasn’t a bad trade, all in all.

Casper was already waiting for him as Levi made his way into the secluded garden. There was frost in the air, so he wouldn’t be able to stay long before he got too cold, but he felt that he owed Casper a visit, felt bad for staying away for long. Casper couldn’t talk to anyone else, no one but Levi could ever see him, and he knew Casper longed for the company when Levi stayed away for too long.

“Mate, did you hear that guy scream!” Casper exclaimed, rushing towards Levi in all his translucent grey glory.

“You still haven’t gotten anyone to piss their pants, so you still have a way to go,” Levi said, turning so he could lean against the trunk of a tree.

“That you know of,” Casper said, eyes narrowing a little in annoyance.

Levi snorted, shaking his head.

Casper floated closer, ducking so he could peer up at Levi. "Sooo," he started, and Levi knew Casper was about to say something stupid, but he also knew there was no way to stop him.

“How're things with lover boy?" Casper's bushy brows lifted towards his hairline a few times in a very suggestive way. 

“That’s none of your business, now is it?” Levi said, looking away, but letting the smallest of smirks play on his lips, immediately thinking of last night, Eren on his hands and knees, drops of sweat gathering in the small of his back as Levi took him hard.

Casper laughed then. “Oh, I know that look,” he teased in a sing-song voice, lifting a hand as if to flick Levi’s nose. Levi flinched backwards, even though he knew Casper’s hand would go straight through him, and that’s when he noticed it.

Where a finger should be right in his face there was nothing. Casper looked just as he always did, grey tones, translucent enough that Levi could see the contours of the background through him, but his hands seemed somewhat paler than usual, and where his fingers should be there was nothing, just air, knuckles fading into nothingness, like fog.

Levi wanted to grab his wrist and pull the hand closer, but he wouldn’t be able to, and Casper seemed to notice him looking and pulled his hands back behind his back.

“Casper, what’s wrong?” Levi asked, stepping around Casper’s body to look, but Casper just turned around.

“Nothing, nothing, everything is fine. Now, tell me more about Eren.”

“Casper!" Levi said, voice rising, "Show me your hands." 

Casper rolled his eyes as if Levi was being ridiculous, but did as he was told, lifting his hands up in front of Levi’s face. Both hands were the same, going from semi-transparent to completely gone, and Levi had never seen anything like it before, Casper had always been steady, the same, never changing.

“Casper, what’s happened?” Levi asked, letting his gaze swipe over Casper’s body, wincing when he saw that Casper’s feet too seemed to be vanishing, the toes of his shoes turning into nothing.

“It's nothing bad, don't worry about it," Casper said, but how couldn't Levi worry? Casper seemed to be disappearing, it couldn't be a good thing. He didn't know anything about ghosts, but there was no way it was a good thing.

Levi tried to think back to the last time he’d seen Casper, a week or so earlier, if his hands had been normal back then, or faded, but he couldn’t be sure, hadn’t paid enough attention, had mostly ignored Casper as he prattled on about some show he had watched on the telly in one of the neighbouring apartments. Stupid, he should have paid attention.

Casper clearly didn’t want to talk about it, ignored the way Levi was looking at him, moving his hands back behind his back again, trying to steer the conversation onto something else, and Levi let him, because what else could he do? Contact an expert on ghosts? They were probably crooks the lot of them, wouldn't help, probably wouldn’t notice Casper if he was right up in their faces.

For years Casper had been static, always there, floating around, looking the same, but now he was changing, and there had to be a reason why.

Levi’s mind flew to Eren, looking so identical to Casper, and Levi’s gaze rose to Casper’s throat, where he could see a key hanging from a leather cord, swinging right around Casper’s collarbones. It looked old, and identical to the one adorning Eren’s collarbone, the key Eren had said he’d seen in his dreams, had felt connected to.

It had to be because of Eren, he was the one change in Levi’s, and thusly Casper’s, life. Things had been the same until Eren came along, and now that Eren and Levi were growing closer Casper had suddenly started disappearing, and it had to be connected, but Levi had no idea how, or what it meant, or what to do about it. Would Casper keep disappearing, or was this it?

He wanted to know, but Casper clearly didn’t know or didn’t want to say, and Eren didn't seem to even know why he’d tattooed the key, so he’d clearly be no help, and there was nothing Levi could do, so in the end he just stayed with Casper for a while, answering or dodging questions from Casper about Eren, gaze occasionally drifting down to Casper’s feet as if to see if he could see any change, to make out if Casper was vanishing right in front of his eyes.

If it had all started happening because Levi got closer to Eren, that maybe it meant that it was a bad thing, that Levi wasn’t supposed to be with Eren, that he had been stupid to open himself and let someone into his life. His father had vanished, his mother had passed, nothing good came from being with Levi. Maybe Levi was the one at fault, maybe Casper was disappearing because Levi spent more time with someone else rather than him, maybe Casper’s connection to this world was through Levi, and allowing himself to pull away from his spirit friend would mean his death.

Levi had no idea what to do, and he hated the feeling of helplessness, wished this was something that could be solved with fists or brain.


	4. Chapter 4

Eren woke with a gasp, heart thundering in his chest, flashes of a nightmare on his mind. Pain and blood and sorrow all mixed together, and he couldn't make out what had happened, but the pain of it lingered as he tried to breathe deep, tried to calm himself.

He swung his feet over the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees and face in his palms. His back was sticky with cold sweat, his mattress probably cold and wet with it, and he could already tell he wouldn’t get more sleep tonight.

When his heartbeat evened out he grabbed his phone and saw that it was still four am. Too early to get up, but staying in bed would just mean hours of tossing and turning before the alarm went off, so he got up anyway, heading to the shower, wanting to wash away the lingering feeling of unease the dream had left him with. He felt that he should remember it, that he was forgetting about something important, that the dreams were trying to tell him something, but he had no idea what, and trying to remember was like trying to cup water in his hands, the memory vanishing like water droplets between his fingers.

He stumbled his way towards the bathroom, wanting to clean off the cold sweat, hoping the memories of the dream would drain away with the shower water. It didn’t work. No amount of shower gel or scrubbing would get that feeling of pain to go away, it stuck in his chest, claws digging deep, a feeling he’d had too many times before, like a painful memory from another life, haunting him.

He dressed in sweats and curled up on the battered old armchair in the living room, staring out the window into the dark night. The dream tonight had seemed particularly bad. Somehow they had come more often lately. Before they would stay away for weeks, but now he’d had them several times a week. Actually, the only nights he hadn’t had them were the few nights he’d spent in Levi’s apartment. No matter how long the break they had always come back to haunt him sooner or later. Forgotten memories taunting him from his subconscious.

The moment the clock struck six am he sent off a text message and left the apartment with only a small duffel bag over his shoulder, well before Mikasa or Armin could wake up. He couldn’t stand the thought of their worried gazes, and would rather work out the frustration a better way.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, but didn’t bother checking the message, because he knew what it would say. It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn't be the last time.

The streets were quiet as he walked through them, the morning rush not quite getting started yet, people still waking up.

It was only a ten-minute walk, one Eren had taken plenty of times, and soon he could push through the doors of the tired old gym. No perky receptionist in tights to greet him, no pop music over hidden speakers, just the distant sound of fists against boxing bags and banging of weights against a floor bearing the marks of years of barbells being dropped carelessly.

Eren had been going to this gym for a few years, liked the way no one ever looked at him funny when he spent hours straining his muscles to the point of exhaustion. People didn’t come here to look good on a treadmill, they came here to workout, to build muscles and knock the shit out of punching bags, and sometimes each other. There was a boxing ring in one corner for sparring, and that was exactly what Eren had every intention of doing.

He dumped his bag on a bench in a corner—no fancy locker rooms here—and looked around, seeing a couple of familiar faces lifting in front of mirrors, but not the one he was waiting for, so he started warming his muscles as he waited for him, and not even ten minutes later he heard the doors opening behind him, and a quick look over a shoulder told him that Reiner had come, scowl on his face as most days. He nodded in Eren’s direction as he too left his bag on a bench, unzipping his hoodie and letting that fall on top of the bag, leaving him only in a sleeveless top and sweats, hole on one thigh, because who gave a fuck about how they looked here.

They didn't talk as they got ready, didn't need to. They'd been doing this thing for a couple of years already, when either of them got too pent up with tension they'd meet up for a round of sparing, not leaving the ring until they were hurting good. Reiner wasn't afraid to punch, and neither was Eren, and they both thrived on the bite of pain a good punch left behind, the bruises welling up, the exhaustion of their muscles afterwards, and most importantly, the way there were no time to dwell on anything as they were sparing, their minds focused on nothing but the opponent, letting pain and anger vanish into the background.

It was a guidance counsellor years ago that had suggested Eren take up some exercise in a way to channel the energy and anger in his body after he’d clocked Jean one too many times. Eren had been reluctant at first, not wanting to join some bloody football team or go jogging, but then he’d found this place, where he could lift weights and punch people and it was encouraged, and it wasn’t about just hitting someone, it was about technique and getting better, and it _helped_ , even if Eren wouldn’t ever tell that counsellor that.

Soon after Eren and Reiner made their way to the ring, which was little more than mats with some ropes around it that wouldn’t meet any kind of standards, but it was good enough for their use.

Eren ducked between the ropes and shook out his shoulders, his focus narrowing to Reiner and his own body. They weren’t stupid, had no urge to knock out teeth, so they both shoved mouth guards between their teeth, and strapped on light gloves, enough to protect their hands from fractures.

Reiner cracked his neck and moved closer, and with that the match was on.

In the moment of it Eren’s focus was solely on the match, watching for any tell when Reiner was about to hit, trying to find an opening to send his own punches, dodging and taking punches when he had to. Time didn’t matter, there were no clocks to watch their rounds, they just went at it until one hit the ground and stayed there, or one of them tapped out, too worn out to go on. Later Eren would have no idea how long they kept at it, but his muscles started aching, and their punches grew weaker, their dodges slower, and in the end they seemed just about done at the same time, finishing by some untold agreement and both falling to the ground, bodies hurting, from the punches and the strain, and it felt good, letting his mind settle on that physical pain, one Eren knew would fade quickly, leaving behind only bruises that would last for a few days.

Today it wasn’t enough. Even as he laid there, too tired to move, he could feel his mind spinning, reliving the dream that had woken him, the taste of dirt on his tongue and the coppery scent of blood in his nose.

He groaned out his frustration, and he could hear Reiner say something, but the words didn’t register. He pushed to his feet and ignored the way his knees threatened to buckle underneath him as he stalked off to the bathroom.

The door slammed shut after him and he headed over to the sink, turning it on and sticking his head underneath the cold water, drenching his head before throwing it back, glaring into the mirror. He wanted to hit something, wanted to destroy something, to drive his fist through the mirror, but he held himself back, fingers tightening around the edge of the porcelain sink.

Cold water was dripping down his back, and he wrenched off his sweat-soaked t-shirt, stuffing it into the band of his sweatpants because even pissed off he knew better than let it drop to the floor.

He couldn’t say why he was suddenly so angry, going a few rounds with Reiner usually did the trick, but now it didn’t help. There was something gnawing at his chest, a feeling of wrongness that had been there his entire life, like something was wrong with him, a part of him missing, and he felt it so clearly now, and he hated it, because he had no reason to feel like this. He had friends that cared about him, an overprotective sister that would do anything for him, a sort of boyfriend-something in Levi, he should be happy, shouldn’t feel like this, but he couldn’t let it go, not when his dreams haunted him with painful memories that made no sense, memories he knew wasn’t from his life, they couldn’t be, they were all wrong.

They seemed to be intensifying lately. Coming more often, being more vivid than they had ever been, and it felt as if it should mean something, like there was a reason for it, but Eren had no idea what it was, or what he could do about it. He just wanted peace from it all, wanted to be able to go to sleep and get a good night’s rest, not wake up in a cold sweat, fading memories leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

Looking into the mirror through wet bangs hanging in his eyes he saw that he had lifted a hand to his collarbone and was absent-mindedly stroking the key tattoo embedded in the skin there. He hadn’t even realised he was doing it, his hand just automatically going there, feeling the slightest hint of bumps where the needle had bit deep.

The key was an image that had haunted his dreams, a lingering memory that he had felt compelled to carve permanently into his body, as if he wasn’t whole without it. He had maybe hoped it would help ease the nightmares, but he wasn’t sure it had helped much, wasn’t sure how dreams could make him get a tattoo, how the dreams could be affecting him this much.

He closed his eyes, and immediately he could see Levi’s face in front of him, brow set in that slight scowl it seemed permanently drawn into, but it wasn’t quite enough to improve Eren’s mood. He liked Levi, a lot actually, felt oddly drawn to the man from the moment he met him. There was just something about him, and the way Eren felt around him, at ease in a way he hadn’t really felt around anyone. It was a nice feeling, but he couldn’t rely on other people to make him feel good, needed to find a way to overcome the demons that haunted him, needed to find out what his dreams were and how to stop them completely.

He pushed away from the sink and headed over to a treadmill, figuring he’d run until his legs collapsed, maybe then his mind would give him a moment’s peace.

### xXx

Levi was sitting in his shitty little apartment, drinking tea and glaring at the wall. How had his life turned into this? He was friendly with an annoying ghost that seemed to be vanishing, and he was seeing a man that just happened to look exactly like said ghost, and this couldn't be real life. Levi was a realist, he hadn't believed in anything supernatural until he met Casper, and even now he was sceptical to the idea that there was much in the world they didn't know of.

He took a sip of his tea and realised that it had gone cold as he’d been thinking, and he sat it down on the table with an annoyed huff.

He had better things to do with his life than think his nights away, but he hadn't been able to after seeing Casper earlier. He'd gone back, two days after that first time he saw Casper's fingers and toes disappearing into nothingness, and even if Casper tried to tell him otherwise it was clear that more of him had vanished now, hardly any of his hands left visible, wrists just turning into fog vaguely resembling a hand.

There was no doubt in Levi’s mind that Casper was vanishing, slowly turning into air. He had no idea what that meant, if Casper would just be gone, or if he’d move on to some other place, but he knew that somehow it was all Levi’s fault. There was a reason Levi seemed to be the only one who was able to see and communicate with the ghost, they were connected somehow, and for years it had been like this, until recently. Until Levi met Eren.

As if summoned his phone made a ding, and Levi already knew it would be a message from Eren, because who else would even think about messaging him? Casper didn’t have a corporeal body, and Hanji had long since learned that Levi only replied to messages that actually had to do with work.

_Are you home?_ The message said.

Levi hesitated a moment before typing out a simple affirmation, and wasn’t surprised when his phone dinged seconds later with a request for Eren to come over.

Levi left Eren on read, leaning back against his sofa. He was torn. He wanted to see Eren, liked being with him, but he also felt guilty about Casper, and had no idea what to do about anything. He just wanted a simple life, didn’t want any of this shit.

In the end he ended up replying yes, not sure if he regretted it or not.

Some forty minutes later there was a knock on the door and Levi headed over to unlock it.

Eren looked oddly frazzled on the other side of the door, hair more of a mess than usual, wearing a hoodie with a stain on the front and jeans with holes. Levi would comment on the stained clothing, but he refrained.

“Is anything wrong?” he asked, stepping aside and letting Eren come into the room. Eren smelled of pine, seemingly clean out of the shower.

“Yes. No,” Eren said, running a hand through his hair, mussing it further up.

Levi frowned, not sure if he wanted to know.

Eren didn’t seem too keen on talking about it, and Levi didn’t pry, and a silence settled over the room, but where Levi was usually happy to sit with Eren in silence this was a heavier, more awkward silence, something unsaid hanging in the air between them.

Levi lowered his gaze to Eren’s hands, fisted awkwardly at his side. Strong fingers. Nails that had been chewed short rather than cut. Whole, alive. Like Casper, but not.

Levi turned and headed into the kitchen, putting on the kettle. He had no idea what the connecting between Casper and Eren was, and he didn’t like it, didn’t want to deal with it. Had never asked for this.

He pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose, feeling a tension headache settling in his skull. Why had he let himself get mixed into this? It would've been so easy not to. He could just not go to Casper’s little garden at night. He could have ignored Eren. He should have, but he kept finding himself pulled towards the both of them.

He tried to shake it off, reaching for his tin of loose-leaf tea, but just as his fingers curled around the metal he lost the grip and it fell, hitting the countertop, lid flying off, spreading tea leaves all over his countertop and the floors. Usually it wouldn’t be a problem. It was some spilled tea, he had more, could just sweep this mess up and dispose of it, but Eren chose that exact moment to walk into the kitchen, eyes big in surprise at the mess, probably drawn in by the noise.

Levi should just ignore him and find a broom, but then Eren asked him if he needed help, and it was probably meant in a nice way, but Levi’s head hurt, and his mind was in the wrong place, and suddenly seeing Eren standing there, taking up all the place in the doorway, it was just too much.

“I don’t bloody well need your help,” he snapped.

He wasn’t sure what he expected. A hurt look to settle over Eren’s bright eyes perhaps, shoulders sinking on themselves, but if he was in a foul mood so was Eren, so rather than slink away Eren’s shoulders tensed, brow pulled down in a frown, and he snapped right back. “Well, _excuse_ me then,” he said, voice harsh and cold. Aggressive in a way he hadn’t really heard or seen from Eren before.

He should be the bigger man and de-escalate the situation, but thoughts of how Casper was vanishing, and that it was all Levi’s fault for pulling away didn’t make him a particularly rational man. He kicked at the fallen tin of tea, and it bounced against the cabinet, leaving a slight dent in the wood.

“Why the fuck are you even here?” he spat out. He didn’t look at Eren, but Eren clearly understood that the words were directed at him.

“I wanted to see you, but I’m starting to regret that,” Eren said. Gone was the awkward boy that blushed around Levi. Apparently Eren had hidden sides to him.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be here then,” Levi said, voice cold. He wasn’t sure why he said the things he did, knew he shouldn’t, but also didn’t care. Eren shouldn’t be with someone like him anyway, Levi was too old, too set in his way, too damned moody. Shit, there really was no reason for Eren to want to be with him. Levi should have just kept his space. It hadn’t been a bad life before Eren had it. Work was… tolerable. Working on his degree wasn’t bad. He had Casper to talk to, a constant annoyance in his life. An annoyance he had cursed plenty of times, told him to get lost, but now that he was vanishing he found that he wasn’t ready to let him go, and if sending Eren away was the way to save Casper, then maybe it was worth it.

It took a few long moments before Eren talked again. Levi pointedly looking away from him, not wanting to see the look on his face, afraid it would be less anger and more hurt now.

“Maybe I really shouldn’t,” Eren finally said. He sounded angry and hurt, and Levi was torn. One part wanted to say more ugly things, drive him away completely, the other wanted to apologise, make him stay.

In the end he said nothing, and Eren seemed to take that as answer good enough. Levi heard footsteps as Eren walked away, and then a slam of his front door, and then he was left alone, and he thought he’d feel relieved, but he just felt empty.

He sank down until he sat with his back against the cabinet, knees pressed to his chest, head hanging low. The air smelled like tea, and there was a hollow feeling in his chest.

### xXx

The following night’s weather perfectly mirrored Levi’s feeling. Cloudy, drizzling rain, icy cold winds. It was miserable out, and Levi felt like utter shit.

He refused to let himself think about Eren, and instead tried to focus on his job, but it was hard. He didn’t want to be out here, didn’t want to show a group of tourist the local haunted houses, wanted to curl up on his sofa and be miserable in peace.

The group was small, not many people willing to risk the chilly autumn for a walk, only four people. Three clad in raincoats, the last wishing he was. Levi himself was dressed in his usual cloak, but he had thick clothes underneath. It wasn’t enough to combat the cold, not when the winds made an umbrella useless, and cold rain was soaking through the fabric of his clothes.

It was hard to pretend he was invested, and he told his stories plainly, without any interest. It was a shitty tour, and he just hoped none of the tourists would leave reviews, because they were bound to be bad.

Finally they reached the last stop of the evening, the familiar house with its small garden next to it, where Casper lingered. Levi didn’t let his gaze linger on the garden, instead told his little spiel. There were no sounds or sights from the house tonight, an anti-climactic ending that seemed oddly fitting. It wasn’t the first time Casper hadn’t had his fun. Sometimes he were too preoccupied watching telly in one of the nearby apartments, or maybe he just wasn’t in the mood, but tonight's absence felt different, and Levi dreaded the possibility of what it could mean.

He quickly finished the tour, sent the four on their way, and then he stood by the road, letting water drench him, shivering in the cold as he debated what to do. He could go home, take a hot shower and go to bed, but something pulled him back towards Casper, some feeling that he was needed, and he was too tired to resist, slowly heading back the way he’d come.

There was just enough roof jutting out over the garden that Levi was somewhat shielded from the pelting rain when he pressed his back against the rough brick of the house, and he stayed there, looking out over the tiny garden with its withered plants and puddles of water. It was quiet, no sound but the rain to be heard, and nothing to be seen.

A cold claw locked around his chest. Maybe he was too late, maybe Casper had faded away already, leaving nothing behind, no trace that he ever existed, nothing but the memories in Levi’s mind.

“You look like a drowned cat.”

Levi startled, looking up and seeing Casper hovering right in front of him. Casper looked as he always did, completely unaffected by the rain.

Levi’s gaze automatically dropped to Casper’s hand, not sure what he would see. He had a hope that maybe they would be normal again, a translucent grey, but _there_ , a sign that he had done the right thing, pulling away from Eren.

Both of Casper’s arms faded into nothing right around his elbows, and when Levi looked further down his legs were suffering the same fate, translucent down to his knees, then fading into nothingness, like fog blown away by winds.

“No,” Levi said, reaching for Casper even though he knew he couldn’t grasp him. “No!”

Casper looked down, seemingly realising just what Levi was staring at, but this time he didn’t even try to hide it, just lifted his arms, waving the stumps in front of his own face, looking wholly unaffected by it.

“Why are you acting like this isn’t a big thing?” Levi asked, hands fisting at his side.

“Because it’s not?” Casper said, head cocking to the side.

“You are vanishing,” Levi dead-panned.

“So?”

Levi dragged a hand over his face, shaking off the annoyance at Casper’s indifference.

“It’s spreading, soon you’ll be gone completely, do you even know what that will mean?”

Casper shrugged. “I don’t know, but I guess it means I’ll be gone.”

“And you aren’t worried about that at all?”

Casper lowered his hands again, looking at Levi, as if he was considering his words. “I’m not worried. It feels right, like this is what is supposed to happen.”

Levi looked another way. “It’s all my fault. It only happened after I met Eren. There’s some connection there, the more time I spent with him the more you vanished. It should have stopped now.”

Casper wafted to the side, getting up in Levi’s face. “Levi. What did you do?”

Levi huffed a laugh, but there was no mirth in it. “I think we broke up,” he said.

Casper didn’t answer, but Levi could see his thick eyebrows drawn down in a frown.

“You fucking idiot,” he finally said, sounding less angry than he did utterly disappointed.

Levi just shrugged. “He would have broken up with me eventually anyway. You should be happy, at least this way you get to hang around my miserable ass.”

Casper made an exasperated groan, throwing what he had of his arms up in the air in apparent annoyance.

“This wasn’t what was supposed to happen! You finally had a life, had someone to care about, someone who could stand being around you for a prolonged time, and you throw it all away to linger in the shadows with a ghost? You bloody git!” Casper was pacing around the small garden, as well as any ghost could, which mostly meant he floated around in circles, ranting while gesticulating wildly with his arms.

Levi just watched, shocked at Casper’s almost violent reaction.

“Levi. I’m a _ghost_. I’m dead, probably have been for very many years. I’m not supposed to be here, something was holding me back, and now I finally feel as if something is righting a wrong, something is letting me let go of this… of this unlife, and I don’t know what, or why, but it has to do with Eren, and you are messing up everything because you are afraid of change, are afraid of letting someone in. Are you really going to spend your life sitting in this little garden talking to what is just a memory if a life once lived? Are you going to throw your life away just because you are afraid of letting me go? It’s time for me to move on, but you are clinging to me. You might not want to admit it, I know you like to act as if you aren’t affected by anyone or anything, but you are afraid of change, but change can be good. Life is nothing but a series of changes, and that is what it is supposed to be, that is what makes it worth living. Eren was going to be your big change, and now you are ruining everything.”

Levi sank to the ground, completely stunned by Casper's words. He barely felt the shivers of cold racking his body, too caught up in the words and feelings filling his mind. He didn't want to admit that he was afraid, didn't want to admit that he was holding himself back, but Casper's words were raw and they spoke the truth. No one knew him like Casper after all.

“Shit, what am I supposed to do?” Levi asked.

“Find Eren. Bring him here, I want to meet him,” Casper said.

Levi looked up. “What if he doesn’t want to talk to me?”

“Then convince him.”

### xXx

_Fucking ghost playing Cupid_ , Levi thought, staring down at his phone. A night and a morning had passed since he had walked home from the talk with Casper. A night spent tossing and turning in bed, hardly getting any sleep, and a morning spent staring at his phone, trying to find the right words.

He thought about ignoring Casper’s words, just letting it all go, but a part of him didn’t want to. Didn’t want to go back to what had been before, and eventually he typed out a quick message, throwing the phone away as soon as it was sent.

He had little hope there would be a response, but not even five minutes later the phone vibrated on the sofa next to him. Levi grabbed it and unlocked it, half-dreading what the answer would be.

_I’ll be over tonight._

The message was short, and impossible to decipher, but Levi figured that the fact that Eren even bothered to answer him was a good thing. Not that Levi’s message had been much better, just asking Eren if they could talk.

Levi groaned and let the phone fall to the sofa cushion again. He had no idea what he was doing, but Casper had been very adamant that Levi was an idiot and needed to fix things, and maybe for once Levi agreed, but he wasn’t about to admit that out loud, nor did he have any idea how to do it.

### xXx

Eren had no idea what to expect when he rang Levi’s doorbell. After their fight the other day he had figured he wouldn’t hear more from Levi, but then he’d gotten a message a couple of days later, and he had no idea what it meant, but Levi wanted to talk, and somehow Eren didn’t think Levi would have bothered with that if he didn’t want to see Eren again, he would have just ghosted him.

Still, he was nervous as the door finally opened. His hands were stuffed in the front pocket of his hoodie, fingers twisting together, and he had no idea whether he should smile at Levi or not.

“Ah, come in,” Levi said, and took a step to the side.

Eren hesitated a moment, but then stepped inside, lingering by the door, unsure if he should go into the living room or not, but Levi locked the door and headed towards the sofa, so Eren followed. He had no idea what Levi was thinking, couldn’t really read the look on his face as Levi sat down on the sofa, pouring tea into two cups.

Eren headed over and sat down, right at the edge of the sofa, and for a while neither of them said anything. Levi pushed one teacup and a bowl of sugar towards Eren, and Eren piled plenty of sweet into the tea, but didn't drink it, just stirred to keep his hands occupied.

Finally Levi was the one to break the silence. “I’m sorry about how I acted. I was an ass.”

Eren didn’t say anything in confirmation or denial, and Levi didn’t seem surprised.

“So here’s the thing,” Levi said, teacup cradled in his hands. “There’s this ghost…”

Eren was pretty sure he gaped his entire way through Levi’s tale. He wasn’t sure what he was prepared for, but for Levi to talk about his best friend, _the ghost_ , was definitely not it. Levi seemed about as far from the type to be into the whole supernatural thing Eren could think of, and he was inclined to believe him because of it. Also there was the fact that Eren had seen the haunted house twice.

“So, you know a ghost, and he appears to be dying, and it’s maybe because of me, and that’s why you were so pissy?” Eren summed up at the end, trying to gather his thoughts.

“Well, he's already dead, but yeah, that seems to sum it up nicely." 

Eren stared at Levi, almost expecting Levi to crack up, pleased with having made a joke, but it was just too elaborate a tale, and he wasn’t smiling, seemed utterly serious, and this was mad, but somehow Eren believed him, and he wasn’t sure that meant he was the crazy one, or Levi was.

“Okay, so when do I get to meet him?”

### xXx

They stepped off the bus together, heading down the street in silence. Eren recognised the area from the two ghost walks he’d done, and it didn’t take long until they approached the house. Eren’s gaze immediately flitted to the garden, expecting to see a ghost lingering there in all its dead glory, but he couldn’t see anything.

Levi headed towards the low fence and stepped through a rusted gate, heading towards a stone bench, sitting down. Eren followed, sitting down next to him, not sure if he should say anything, or if that would scare the ghost.

The garden was dark, just the faint lights from the street illuminating it. Tall bare trees stretched over their heads, and there were lines of withered stems where flowers had probably blossomed earlier this year, now half-covered by rotting leaves. It looked desolate and sad, and somehow it seemed appropriate that a ghost would linger here.

It was cold out, a sharp wind blowing right through his clothes, so he wrapped his arms around himself, regretting not bringing more clothes.

He wasn’t sure what to expect. A ghostly shape to suddenly appear in front of him, or nothing at all. What if this was all in Levi’s head? Eren hardly knew Levi that well, had only met him a few weeks ago, and even though they had gone on several dates and slept together on multiple occasions, that didn’t mean he really knew Levi. Who knew what hidden sides the other might have, a whole world of make belief.

Like… ghosts. Never in his life had Eren imagined he would ever believe in ghosts. He'd scoffed at people who told about encounters with spirits, and here he was, apparently waiting for one to show up.

He startled when he felt his right cheek grow cold, in a spot right at his cheekbone.

“Erm, Levi?” he said, hesitantly as the cold persisted, unlike the cold of the wind.

“Yeah, that’s Casper alright. He’s poking your cheek with his nose because he doesn’t have fingers anymore. Apparently he’s a brat completely without manners.”

Eren jumped backwards, and the cold feeling vanished instantaneously.

“I… I can’t see anything,” he said, hesitantly.

“I had hoped you would, but so far no one but me has ever been able to see him." 

Levi stopped, and it seemed like he listened to something, eyebrows drawing into a frown. “I’m not gonna—shut it— _fine_ !”

It was odd seeing Levi argue with the seemingly thin air in front of him.

“He wants me to tell you that you are very handsome, and he’s happy, because that proves that he was right about his own looks all along,” Levi said, rolling his eyes.

“Does he really look like me?” Eren asked, eyes scanning the air in front of them.

“His hair is shorter, and he looks a little younger, but apart from that, yeah.”

“I kind of wish I could see him.”

“He wishes you could see him too. Also, he wants to see your tattoo.”

Eren glanced over at Levi, and then he nodded, pulling down the collar of his hoodie to show the small tattoo. He shivered as the air grew colder.

“Oi, brat, back off, he’s cold enough as it is,” Levi said, and at first Eren thought he was talking to him, but Levi was glaring at a spot right in front of Eren, and moments later the cold retreated.

“He has a key in a chain around his neck, it looks just like your tattoo,” Levi explained. “He says that he can’t remember its significance, but that he thinks it was important to him when he was alive.”

Eren nodded. “I kept seeing the key in my dreams, and it just felt important, like I missed it, so I had it tattooed, to be a part of me.”

Any doubts he had about the realness of Levi’s ghost vanished by the second. He couldn’t see the ghost, but he couldn’t explain away the sudden chill whenever the ghost got to near, and there was something else, a tension in the air, as if he could sense the ghost there, with them. Eren reached out a hand, palm stretched forward, and the ghost must have sensed what he wanted, because soon a coldness pressed against Eren’s palm, as if the ghost had pressed close.

He heard a sharp intake of air from beside him, but he didn’t turn towards Levi, because the next moment he saw a shimmer in the air in front of him, and as he watched it took the shape of a human, and soon Eren looked right into a pair of eyes so startlingly like his own it was like staring into a mirror, but the one in front of him wore unfamiliar clothes, and he had shorter hair, and there weren’t any scruff on his chin. It was clear that this was Levi’s Casper, and he was grinning at Eren, seemingly pleased he could finally be seen.

Eren lifted his other arm as well, and Casper pressed his palm against it. If he indeed had been vanishing he didn’t seem to anymore, his hands were there, translucent and grey, but there, palm to palm with Eren.

“Hi,” the ghost said, and Eren gaped a little but then replied in like.

Eren didn’t notice the cold of their touch, nor the cold winds of the British autumn. Everything fell away until it was only him and the ghost. Behind the ghost Eren saw flashes of something he had only seen in his dreams before, and finally it was making sense.

“My dreams, they’ve… they’ve been your memories, haven’t they?” he asked, in awe as he looked at great fields stretching beyond them, a young boy running along it, laughing as he tried to catch an animal that was well out of his reach.

The scene changed and the boy was older now, and he looked like Eren had done when he was around twelve, a little awkward, still small. The boy was standing with an older boy, dark hair and grey eyes, and Eren knew that man. Levi, or at least someone that looked like Levi, only he was wearing old-fashioned clothes, and he looked younger than the Levi Eren knew, didn't have any marks on his face yet, but his face was still set in a frown.

The image shifted again, and the boy who looked like him was older now, sixteen probably, running through a forest, but this time he wasn’t chasing anyone, he was being chased, but he was laughing, willingly letting himself be caught. The hunter had been the man who looked like Levi, wearing a uniform, a military one.

They kissed, and then Levi pulled a chain over his head and placed it over Eren’s neck.

“This is the key to all my most valuable possessions,” the young man said. “I want you to keep it for me, and when I come back from the war you know I’ll have to find you.”

The scene shifted again, Casper sitting in a small house, clutching the key and a letter, crying fat tears, and Eren already knew what the letter would say, that the war had claimed the life of the man that looked like Levi. He could feel Casper’s sorrow in his own soul, because Casper and he was one and the same.

The scene shifted again, and now it was night, and the small house was changed for what looked like a tavern, and Casper was too young to be here, but he was angry, and there were soldiers and he confronted them, and Eren watched as Casper braced himself, how he fought back against impossible odds, could almost feel his pain as fists and kicks connected with his body, watched as Casper lay on the floor, broken and bleeding, fingers curled around the key, a small smile on his face as he closed his eyes for the last time.

He could feel Casper’s last breath leave his body, could feel how the sorrow of losing the one he had lost tore his very soul apart, one part to move on in the circle of life to be reborn, and one to linger in the world as a spirit.

A quick series of flashes showed the lives Eren had lived since, reborn but missing a part of his soul. Angry and tormented, lacking something he didn’t know what was. Dying too young, dying too old and bitter, never truly happy. Then he saw his own mother cradling him as an infant, and this was it, this was now, their life was now Eren’s life, and the part of Eren’s soul that had been lacking was here, in Casper. Casper was never supposed to linger at all, should have been whole to be reborn into a new life.

Eren could feel Casper's thoughts and feelings as they were his own. The relief Casper felt to remember his old life, to finally know who he was, and to know that he was free to be whole again.

The images of other lives vanished, leaving behind only Eren and Casper and the small garden, and Casper wasn’t translucent now, he looked as if he had when he was alive, and he was smiling, and there were tears of joy in his eyes as he looked to Eren’s side, where Levi was standing.

“Thank you,” he whispered, and then he tilted his head back, and there was a flash of light that came from within him, so sharp Eren had to close his eyes, and when he opened them again Casper was gone.

His arms dropped limply to his side, and he fell back to the stone bench. At some point he had gotten up, but he had no idea when.

A hand went to his chest, pressing against his sternum. He felt warm, and tingly, and somehow he knew that his soul had been made whole. He had never known he had lacked a part of it, but now that it had mended he could feel the difference, could feel the sense of rightness deep within.

An arm folded around his shoulder, strong and comforting, and Eren turned towards Levi, smiling softly at him. He had no idea how much Levi had been able to see of what had transpired, but he looked worried.

“I’m glad I got to meet you again, in another life,” Eren said, and rested his head against Levi’s shoulder, feeling tired. Old memories and new were all jumbled up, but what he knew what that Eren and Levi had loved once, in a life long ago, and now he had found him again, and this was why he had been drawn to him from the start.

All the dreams he had suffered made sense now. They weren’t nightmares, they were memories of lives forgotten, of loss and pain, but even as he sat there in the small garden, Levi’s arm around him, he could feel those memories trickle away from him. It impossible to keep a hold on them, disappearing because you aren’t supposed to remember your old lives, a birth is a fresh start, and now that his soul was one again he finally had the peace to live this life as it was supposed to be lived, to the fullest, not held back by old pain.

“Are you okay?” Levi finally asked, and Eren sat up so he could turn towards him.

“Yes, I think I finally am,” he said, smiling softly. “How much could you see?”

“I just saw you and Casper holding hands for a long time.”

Which meant that he hadn’t been able to see any of the memories, so Eren told him what he could remember, that they had been together in a previous life, that Casper’s deep sorrow when he died had torn his soul into two, how Casper wasn’t truly gone, their soul was just one again.

Levi looked at him in wonder, a hand lifting to press against Eren’s chest. “I never imagined…” he started, hesitating. “I’m really sorry for being an ass.”

“I know, you were just afraid of losing Casper.”

“It wasn’t just that. I’m afraid of letting anyone close I think. The only one I’ve ever loved was my mother and she passed away. I’m just… used to keep people at a distance.”

Eren placed his hand over Levi’s. “I’m not sure what will happen in the future, I don’t think there’s a thing as soulmates, but our souls loved each other once, years and years ago, I think I would like to see what we could be this time around. I know it hasn’t been long since we met, but I like you a lot, Levi.”

Levi just looked at him with unreadable eyes, and Eren started to fear he had gone too far, said too much, scared him away, but then a small smile tugged at Levi’s lips. Not a smirk, but a soft smile.

Eren couldn’t stop himself for surging forward and pressing his lips to the soft smile, and Levi kissed him right back, soft and warm. They pulled back only far enough that their foreheads still touched.

“I can’t remember what we once had, but I think maybe I would like to see what we could have too,” Levi said. “I think you grew on me, brat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you've enjoyed.

**Author's Note:**

> This four-part fic was written for the Ereri Bigbang event over on Tumblr, which means gorgeous art is soon to be accompanying the fic! I shall add links as soon as the artists post their works. In the meanwhile, enjoy the read of the story~


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